Analysis of radar sea clutter data acquired during the MARLENE measurement campaign

Maritime environment, and in particular the sea clutter, has a significant impact on the detection efficiency. Therefore the physical properties of the radar sea clutter must be well mastered. In this paper, we focus on sea clutter data acquired during an experiment called MARLENE, which was held in the Mediterranean Sea region of Toulon, France, in 2014. The aim of this experiment was to characterize the sea environment influence on radar propagation and backscattering for Refractivity From Clutter (RFC) and radar Doppler detection. Three coastal radars, MARSIG (WTD 71), MEMPHIS (FHR) and MEDYCIS (ONERA) were used to acquire sea clutter measurements simultaneously. During the radar measurements, the in-situ oceanic and meteorological conditions were characterized on board of the RV PLANET meteorological ship deployed by WTD 71 and by WAVEWATCH III and SWAN wave models. The paper gives an overview of the MARLENE experiment, presents the radar data and the first results on sea clutter reflectivity and Doppler.