2-DIMENSIONAL GLITTER FUNCTION IN THE STUDY OF ROUGH SURFACES VIA REMOTE-SENSING

The van Cittert-Zernike theorem is used to obtain in a rigorous way th e bidimensional glitter function used in the problem of retrieving spa tial information of surface heights from aerial images. The results sh ow that the glitter function can be described by a circular function w here the radius is a function of the angular extent and the position o f the source and the viewing direction. This result comes from conside ring the source as a circular one that is projected on the detector or camera after reflection, taken into consideration the slopes of the s urface and the geometrical optics.