ISO/TC 211 Multi-Lingual Glossary of Terms (MLGT)

Note 1 to entry: If the radar return from the illuminated area is contributed by a number of independent scattering elements, it is described by the backscattering coefficient instead of radar cross section used for the point target. It is calculated as ${\displaystyle {\sigma }^0=\frac{\sigma }{A}}$ where ${\displaystyle \sigma }$ is the total radar cross section of an area ${\displaystyle A}$ . ${\displaystyle {\sigma }^0}$ is a dimesionless parameter and is usually expressed in decibels (dB) as follows: ${\displaystyle {\sigma }_{\text{dB}}^0=10{\log }_{10}^{}{\sigma }^0}$

Note 2 to entry: “Backscattering coefficient” is sometimes called “normalized radar cross section”.