Analysis of bistatic sea clutter - Part I: Average reflectivity

Based on two low grazing angle simultaneously recorded out-of-plane bistatic and monostatic S-band sea clutter datasets, and covering bistatic angles from 30°–120°, we analyze the average normalized radar cross section (σ°), and show that under the measurement conditions the ratio between σB° and σM° tends to a minimum around a bistatic angle of 90°, particularly at horizontal polarization. However, the cross-polarized σ° was larger for the bistatic clutter at bistatic angles close to 90°.