Measuring Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Using Spaceborne GNSS Reflectometry From TechDemoSat-1

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Li, Weiqiang, Cardellach, Estel, Fabra Cervellera, Fran, Ribó, Serni, Rius, Antonio
• Other Authors: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: John Wiley & Sons 2020
• Subjects: Bistatic radar; Global Navigation Satellite System; Greenland ice sheet; Melt; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/236224; https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086477; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329

The capability of spaceborne Global Navigation Satellite System-reflectometry (GNSS-R) for Greenland ice sheet melt detection is investigated using the TechDemoSat-1 satellite (TDS-1) data. The melt detection is based on the sensitivity of GNSS-R signal to the presence of liquid water in snow pack. Statistical analysis during the 2018 melt season shows melt detection using GNSS-R is possible with an agreement of 90% comparing to the microwave radiometer (MWR) data. In 37% of the cases GNSS-R detects melting when MWR does not. The inconsistency observed between GNSS-R and MWR is mainly due to the different features of the two observation concepts and the limitations of currently available GNSS-R data. Furthermore, the large penetration depth of the GNSS signal can potentially provide complementary information on melt occurrence in ice sheet subsurface. These results show the potential of future GNSS-R missions for ice sheet melt detection. This work was supported in part by theSpanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Grant ESP2015-70014-C2-2-R and Grant RTI2018-099008-B-C22(MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE)