Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) ship wake images in light wind and calm sea
conditions frequently appear in the form of a bright V with a half-angle of
2 to 3 deg. Sophisticated and conflicting explanations of this phenomenon,
based on the Bragg scattering mechanism, have been proposed. There is a be
lief that the narrow V-wake is not a part of the Kelvin wake. An alternativ
e approach, which is not generally accepted, suggests that short divergent
Kelvin waves may contribute to the V-wake imaging although these waves are
mixed with unsteady surface waves generated by the ship-induced turbulence.
Ship-generated divergent waves contaminated by surfactants and their radar
backscattering cross section are studied. The hull of the ship is represen
ted by a single layer of hydrodynamic singularities. The Green function of
a point source moving below a free surface covered by surfactants is derive
d. A closed-form asymptotic solution for the far ship wave wake is obtained
. It is used to calculate analytically the corresponding radar backscatteri
ng cross section. The radiative, viscous, and surfactant-induced decay of t
he V-wake brightness along the V-arms is discussed. The theoretical results
are compared against available experimental data.