Recent advances in understanding dynamics and statistical geometry of wind-generated gravity waves necessitate a re-examination of the radar return as a function of external factors. The Kirchhoff approximation for the case of well-developed seas is analyzed. In this peculiar case, the equilibrium range in the wave number spectrum (approximated by ak -(4-2•) where/x > 0 can be interpreted as a fractal codimension of the surface) corresponds to a cascade pattern in the surface geometry. Its high wave number cutoff (the internal scale h), determined by the dissipation of energy due to wave breaking, is shown to be a major factor of the radar backscatter] This intrinsic scale is evaluated (h --• 0.4 m), and both the geometrical and the physical optics terms are related to major parameters of wind-wave dynamics. The range of validity of the Kirchhoff approximation and the relative importance of the diffraction correction are analyzed. Finally, the radar cross section tr ø of well-developed seas is compared with that of poorly developed seas (when /x = 0). The great qualitative difference shown in the wind speed dependence of tr ø for these two regimes is pointed out as a source of a considerable error trend recently discovered in satellite altimeter wind measurements. GLAZMAN: RADAR BACKSCATTER FROM SEA 1213 Transl., 18(10), 821-827, 1982b. Zakharov, V. E., and M. M. Zaslavskii, Shape of the spectrum of energy carrying components of a water surface in the weak-turbulence theory of wind waves, lzv. Atmos. Oceanic Phys., Engl. Transl., 19(3), 207-212, 1983a. Zakharov, V. E., and M. M. Zaslavskii, Dependence of wave parameters on the wind velocity, duration and its action and fetch in the weak-turbulence theory of wind waves, lzv. Atmos. Oceanic Phys., Engl. Transl. , 19(4), 300-306, 1983b.