| Summary: | SKADI[1] is a mission proposal submitted to the Earth Explorer 11 call that aims to address and quantify dynamic processes in cold environments by measuring the static and dynamic topography. This information is essential for understanding, modelling and forecasting the dynamics and interactions within the different elements of the cryosphere and with other Earth system components. SKADI will provide very accurate high-resolution, multi-temporal topographic data that will make it possible to derive mass balances and structural changes in the cryosphere, with a focus on permafrost areas as well as glaciers and ice caps, ice sheets and sea ice. At the same time, SKADI will enable unprecedented measurements of volume change processes in the geosphere, including volcanic, landslide and seismic activities. In addition, SKADI will generate a global digital elevation model (DEM) of about one order of magnitude better, in terms of resolution and height accuracy, than the current reference provided by TanDEM-X. The SKADI instrument consists of a cross-platform Ka-band radar interferometer with two spacecraft that fly in a reconfigurable formation and can dynamically adapt to the needs of scientific observation. Cross-track SAR interferometry is an established remote sensing technique for large-scale measurements of static and dynamic topography and the use of Ka band minimizes systematic biases and errors that would be caused at lower frequencies due to wave penetration into semi-transparent media. SKADI’s unique ability to provide time series of highly accurate surface topography measurements allows the mission’s primary scientific objectives to be optimally fulfilled, namely a) the monitoring of permafrost degradation by means of DEM acquisitions with short repetition intervals and estimates of volume changes in time, b) the measurement of snow topographic changes to observe different snow regimes to feed hydrological models for a more precise prediction of water availability, and c) the measurements of glaciers, ice ...
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