P-band polarimetric ice sounder: concept and first results

• Published in: IGARSS 2008 - 2008 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
• Main Authors: Dall, Jørgen, Hernández, Carlos Cilla, Kristensen, Steen Savstrup, Krozer, Viktor, Kusk, Anders, Vidkjær, Jens, Balling, Jan E., Skou, Niels, Søbjærg, Sten Schmidl, Christensen, Erik Lintz
• Format: Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2008
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Greenland; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/ca3c0d4d-2948-4610-8048-efb15d676339; https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS.2008.4779766; https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/files/4613176/Dall.pdf

ESA has assigned the Technical University of Denmark to develop an airborne P-band ice sounding radar demonstrator. The intention is to obtain a better understanding of the electromagnetic properties of the Antarctic ice sheet at P-band and to test novel ice sounding techniques in preparation for a potential spaceborne ice sounding radar. The airborne system is a coherent, high-resolution and fully polarimetric radar. Aperture synthesis is applied in the along track direction and an experimental surface clutter suppression technique based on a multi-aperture antenna can be applied in the across track direction. In May 2008, a proof-of-concept campaign was organized in Greenland, where data were acquired over the ice sheet. The system proved capable of detecting the bedrock under 3 km thick ice and of mapping the internal ice layers down to a depth of at least 1.3 km. In this paper, the system concept is outlined and first results are presented.