C-band Backscatter Measurements of Winter Sea Ice

• Main Authors: Mark R. Drinkwater, Reza Hosseinmostafa, Prasad Gogineni., Prasad Gogineni
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1995
• Subjects: Antarctic; Arctic; Breaker; Weddell; Weddell Sea; Antarc*; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.41.9794; http://polar.jpl.nasa.gov/Publications/ijrs_v16_17_1995.pdf

. During the 1992 Winter Weddell Gyre Study, a C-band scatterometer was used from the German ice-breaker R/V Polarstern to obtain detailed shipborne measurement scans of Antarctic sea ice. The frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FM-CW) radar operated at 4.3 GHz and acquired like- (VV) and cross-polarization (HV) data at a variety of incidence angles (10-75 o ). Calibrated backscatter data were recorded for several ice types as the icebreaker crossed the Weddell Sea and detailed measurements were made of corresponding snow and sea ice characteristics at each measurement site, together with meteorological information, radiation budget and oceanographic data. The primary scattering contributions under cold winter conditions arise from the air/snow and snow/ice interfaces. Observations indicate some similarities with Arctic sea ice scattering signatures although the main difference is generally lower mean backscattering coefficients in the Weddell Sea. This is due to the younger mean ic.