The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter
Up to now, snow cover on Antarctic sea ice and its impact on radar backscatter, particularly after the onset of freeze/thaw processes, are not well understood. Here we present a combined analysis of in situ observations of snow properties from the landfast sea ice in Atka Bay, Antarctica, and high-r...
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:37962 2024-09-15T17:39:59+00:00 The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter Paul, Stephan Willmes, Sascha Hoppmann, Mario Hunkeler, Priska Wesche, Christine Nicolaus, Marcel Heinemann, Günther Timmermann, Ralph 2015 https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37962/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45622 unknown INT GLACIOL SOC Paul, S. , Willmes, S. , Hoppmann, M. orcid:0000-0003-1294-9531 , Hunkeler, P. , Wesche, C. orcid:0000-0002-9786-4010 , Nicolaus, M. orcid:0000-0003-0903-1746 , Heinemann, G. and Timmermann, R. (2015) The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter , Annals of Glaciology, 56 (69), pp. 263-273 . doi:10.3189/2015AoG69A715 <https://doi.org/10.3189/2015AoG69A715> , hdl:10013/epic.45622 EPIC3Annals of Glaciology, INT GLACIOL SOC, 56(69), pp. 263-273, ISSN: 0260-3055 Article isiRev 2015 ftawi https://doi.org/10.3189/2015AoG69A715 2024-06-24T04:12:21Z Up to now, snow cover on Antarctic sea ice and its impact on radar backscatter, particularly after the onset of freeze/thaw processes, are not well understood. Here we present a combined analysis of in situ observations of snow properties from the landfast sea ice in Atka Bay, Antarctica, and high-resolution TerraSAR-X backscatter data, for the transition from austral spring (November 2012) to summer (January 2013). The physical changes in the seasonal snow cover during that time are reflected in the evolution of TerraSAR-X backscatter. We are able to explain 76–93% of the spatio-temporal variability of the TerraSAR-X backscatter signal with up to four snowpack parameters with a root-mean-squared error of 0.87–1.62 dB, using a simple multiple linear model. Over the complete study, and especially after the onset of early-melt processes and freeze/thaw cycles, the majority of variability in the backscatter is influenced by changes in snow/ice interface temperature, snow depth and top-layer grain size. This suggests it may be possible to retrieve snow physical properties over Antarctic sea ice from X-band SAR backscatter. Article in Journal/Newspaper Annals of Glaciology Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Annals of Glaciology 56 69 263 273 |
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Open Polar |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
Up to now, snow cover on Antarctic sea ice and its impact on radar backscatter, particularly after the onset of freeze/thaw processes, are not well understood. Here we present a combined analysis of in situ observations of snow properties from the landfast sea ice in Atka Bay, Antarctica, and high-resolution TerraSAR-X backscatter data, for the transition from austral spring (November 2012) to summer (January 2013). The physical changes in the seasonal snow cover during that time are reflected in the evolution of TerraSAR-X backscatter. We are able to explain 76–93% of the spatio-temporal variability of the TerraSAR-X backscatter signal with up to four snowpack parameters with a root-mean-squared error of 0.87–1.62 dB, using a simple multiple linear model. Over the complete study, and especially after the onset of early-melt processes and freeze/thaw cycles, the majority of variability in the backscatter is influenced by changes in snow/ice interface temperature, snow depth and top-layer grain size. This suggests it may be possible to retrieve snow physical properties over Antarctic sea ice from X-band SAR backscatter. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Paul, Stephan Willmes, Sascha Hoppmann, Mario Hunkeler, Priska Wesche, Christine Nicolaus, Marcel Heinemann, Günther Timmermann, Ralph |
spellingShingle |
Paul, Stephan Willmes, Sascha Hoppmann, Mario Hunkeler, Priska Wesche, Christine Nicolaus, Marcel Heinemann, Günther Timmermann, Ralph The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter |
author_facet |
Paul, Stephan Willmes, Sascha Hoppmann, Mario Hunkeler, Priska Wesche, Christine Nicolaus, Marcel Heinemann, Günther Timmermann, Ralph |
author_sort |
Paul, Stephan |
title |
The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter |
title_short |
The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter |
title_full |
The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter |
title_fullStr |
The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter |
title_full_unstemmed |
The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter |
title_sort |
impact of early-summer snow properties on antarctic landfast sea-ice x-band backscatter |
publisher |
INT GLACIOL SOC |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37962/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45622 |
genre |
Annals of Glaciology Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Annals of Glaciology Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Sea ice |
op_source |
EPIC3Annals of Glaciology, INT GLACIOL SOC, 56(69), pp. 263-273, ISSN: 0260-3055 |
op_relation |
Paul, S. , Willmes, S. , Hoppmann, M. orcid:0000-0003-1294-9531 , Hunkeler, P. , Wesche, C. orcid:0000-0002-9786-4010 , Nicolaus, M. orcid:0000-0003-0903-1746 , Heinemann, G. and Timmermann, R. (2015) The impact of early-summer snow properties on Antarctic landfast sea-ice X-band backscatter , Annals of Glaciology, 56 (69), pp. 263-273 . doi:10.3189/2015AoG69A715 <https://doi.org/10.3189/2015AoG69A715> , hdl:10013/epic.45622 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3189/2015AoG69A715 |
container_title |
Annals of Glaciology |
container_volume |
56 |
container_issue |
69 |
container_start_page |
263 |
op_container_end_page |
273 |
_version_ |
1810483947984912384 |