For the second-order rough-surface scattered field, the Dirichlet boundary condition expanded at the mean plane is
At normal incidence, , so its second normal derivative vanishes at zero. Define the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map for a Helmholtz half-space through the Fourier multiplier :
The first-order trace is , hence . It follows that
where with fixed regular profile. In integral notation the quadratic contribution is
The second-order field above the mean plane is added to . No local replacement of by has been made; such a replacement would be an additional long-spatial-scale approximation.
The physical surface trace and reference-plane trace are distinct. At the actual rough boundary , the condition itself says , so
The first boxed expression is the reference-plane trace needed in part (d), at , using the perturbative continuation where that plane lies below the actual boundary; the second answers the literal “at the surface” wording if it means the physical boundary. Taylor-expanding the first expression and its normal derivatives from to reproduces the second, so there is no contradiction between them.