On the effect of atmospheric emission upon the passive microwave polarimetric response of an azimuthally anisotropic sea surface. Abstract

A theoretical and numerical investigation is carried out in order to evaluate the impact of the atmospheric emission on passive microwave polarimetric measurements of the ocean wind vector. The apparent full Stokes vector at the top of the atmosphere, due to both the surface and atmospheric brightness temperatures, is derived for an azimuthally anisotropic sea surface