Using radar sea clutter to estimate refractivity profiles associated with the capping inversion of the marine atmospheric boundary layer

This paper addresses the problem of estimating refractivity profile parameters, associated with the capping inversion of the marine boundary layer, which characterize ducted microwave propagation. The approach presented provides synoptic measurement of the duct parameters by the use of radar sea clutter returns. Specifically, a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate is proposed for determining duct height and its first-order range-dependence in the presence of uncertain slowly range-varying surface backscatter conditions. Results obtained using sea clutter from the S-band Space Range Radar (SPANDAR) located at Wallops Island, Virginia are reported which compare favorably with ground-truth measurements made using a helicopter-borne instrument package out to a range of approximately 50 km.