Backscatter Measurements of Sea Ice with a Helicopter-Borne Scatterometer.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of the University of Kansas helicopter-borne scatterometer system, HELOSCAT. The experiments performed to measure the radar backscatter from sea ice with this system along with the results are also described. Backscatter measurement...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Patel ,J S, Onstott ,R G, Delker ,C V, Moore,R K
Other Authors: KANSAS UNIV/CENTER FOR RESEARCH INC LAWRENCE REMOTE SENSING LAB
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1979
Subjects:
Snow
Ice and Permafrost
Active & Passive Radar Detection & Equipment
*BACKSCATTERING
*SEA ICE
*RADAR MAPPING
ANGLES
THICKNESS
POLARIZATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
AIRBORNE
ACCURACY
HELICOPTERS
COEFFICIENTS
RADAR CROSS SECTIONS
RADAR REFLECTIONS
REMOTE DETECTORS
CLASSIFICATION
DISCRIMINATION
X BAND
FREQUENCY RESPONSE
SURFACE TRUTH
KU BAND
L BAND
SIDE LOOKING RADAR
Scatterometers
HELOSCAT(Heliborne Scatterometers)
Angle of incidence
Design
Ice
permafrost
Sea ice
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA077614
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA077614
Description
Summary:The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and development of the University of Kansas helicopter-borne scatterometer system, HELOSCAT. The experiments performed to measure the radar backscatter from sea ice with this system along with the results are also described. Backscatter measurements were made at 1-2 GHz and 8-18 GHz frequencies, HH-polarization, and three incidence angles (20, 40, and 60 deg). Different types of ice ranging from thin ice to multiyear ice were observed; however, most data were collected from thick first-year and multiyear ice. A comparison of 1-2 GHz results for thick first-year and multiyear ice shows that the scattering coefficient values for multiyear ice at 60 deg are slightly lower than the value for thick first-year ice. The 8-18 GHz results show that the backscatter from multiyear ice at these frequencies is higher than the backscatter return from thick first-year ice by at least 3-4 dB. The frequency response of backscatter return is an upward sloping straight line on a dB-vs-frequency plot. For the multiyear ice, only the 60 deg data was found usable; the data at 20 deg and 40 deg were determined to be erroneous because of a malfunctioning frequency counter.

Similar Items