Experimental observations of polarimetric signatures are presented for sea ice in the Beaufort Sea under cold winter conditions and interpreted with the composite model developed in Part 1. Polarimetric data were acquired in March 1988 with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory multifrequency airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) during the Beaufort Sea Flight Campaign. The experimental area was located near 75¿N latitude and spanned 140¿--145¿W longitude. Selected sea ice scenes contain various ice types, including multiyear, thick first-year, and thin lead ice. Additionally, the C band SAR on the first European Remote Sensing Satellite provides supplementary backscattering data of winter Beaufort Sea ice for small incident angles (20¿--26¿) at vertical polarization. Sea ice characterization and environmental data used in the model were collected at the Applied Physics Laboratory drifting ice station to the northeast of Prudhoe Bay; additional data from field and laboratory experiments are also utilized in this analysis. The model relates sea ice polarimetric backscattering signatures to physical, structural, and electromagnetic properties of sea ice. Scattering mechanisms contributing to sea ice signatures are explained, and sensitivities of polarimetric signatures to sea ice characterization parameters are studied. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995