Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis
Following the development and availability of Aquarius weekly polar-gridded products, this study presents the spatial and temporal radiometer and scatterometer observations at L band (frequency ~1.4 GHz) over the cryosphere including the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, sea ice in both hemisphere...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-915-2014 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/8/915/2014/ |
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc40000 2023-05-15T13:54:27+02:00 Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis Brucker, L. Dinnat, E. P. Koenig, L. S. 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-915-2014 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/8/915/2014/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-8-915-2014 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/8/915/2014/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-915-2014 2020-07-20T16:25:05Z Following the development and availability of Aquarius weekly polar-gridded products, this study presents the spatial and temporal radiometer and scatterometer observations at L band (frequency ~1.4 GHz) over the cryosphere including the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, sea ice in both hemispheres, and over sub-Arctic land for monitoring the soil freeze/thaw state. We provide multiple examples of scientific applications for the L-band data over the cryosphere. For example, we show that over the Greenland Ice Sheet, the unusual 2012 melt event lead to an L-band brightness temperature (TB) sustained decrease of ~5 K at horizontal polarization. Over the Antarctic ice sheet, normalized radar cross section (NRCS) observations recorded during ascending and descending orbits are significantly different, highlighting the anisotropy of the ice cover. Over sub-Arctic land, both passive and active observations show distinct values depending on the soil physical state (freeze/thaw). Aquarius sea surface salinity (SSS) retrievals in the polar waters are also presented. SSS variations could serve as an indicator of fresh water input to the ocean from the cryosphere, however the presence of sea ice often contaminates the SSS retrievals, hindering the analysis. The weekly grided Aquarius L-band products used are distributed by the US Snow and Ice Data Center at http://nsidc.org/data/aquarius/index.html , and show potential for cryospheric studies. Text Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet Sea ice Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic Arctic Greenland The Antarctic The Cryosphere 8 3 915 930 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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English |
description |
Following the development and availability of Aquarius weekly polar-gridded products, this study presents the spatial and temporal radiometer and scatterometer observations at L band (frequency ~1.4 GHz) over the cryosphere including the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, sea ice in both hemispheres, and over sub-Arctic land for monitoring the soil freeze/thaw state. We provide multiple examples of scientific applications for the L-band data over the cryosphere. For example, we show that over the Greenland Ice Sheet, the unusual 2012 melt event lead to an L-band brightness temperature (TB) sustained decrease of ~5 K at horizontal polarization. Over the Antarctic ice sheet, normalized radar cross section (NRCS) observations recorded during ascending and descending orbits are significantly different, highlighting the anisotropy of the ice cover. Over sub-Arctic land, both passive and active observations show distinct values depending on the soil physical state (freeze/thaw). Aquarius sea surface salinity (SSS) retrievals in the polar waters are also presented. SSS variations could serve as an indicator of fresh water input to the ocean from the cryosphere, however the presence of sea ice often contaminates the SSS retrievals, hindering the analysis. The weekly grided Aquarius L-band products used are distributed by the US Snow and Ice Data Center at http://nsidc.org/data/aquarius/index.html , and show potential for cryospheric studies. |
format |
Text |
author |
Brucker, L. Dinnat, E. P. Koenig, L. S. |
spellingShingle |
Brucker, L. Dinnat, E. P. Koenig, L. S. Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis |
author_facet |
Brucker, L. Dinnat, E. P. Koenig, L. S. |
author_sort |
Brucker, L. |
title |
Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis |
title_short |
Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis |
title_full |
Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis |
title_fullStr |
Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Weekly gridded Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – Part 2: Initial product analysis |
title_sort |
weekly gridded aquarius l-band radiometer/scatterometer observations and salinity retrievals over the polar regions – part 2: initial product analysis |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-915-2014 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/8/915/2014/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Arctic Greenland The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Arctic Greenland The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet Sea ice |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-8-915-2014 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/8/915/2014/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-915-2014 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
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8 |
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3 |
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915 |
op_container_end_page |
930 |
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1766260365633519616 |