Retrieval of Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice From Surface-Based, Polarimetric, Dual-Frequency Radar Altimetry

Abstract Snow depth on sea ice is an Essential Climate Variable and a major source of uncertainty in satellite altimetry-derived sea ice thickness. During winter of the MOSAiC Expedition, the “KuKa” dual-frequency, fully polarized Ku- and Ka-band radar was deployed in “stare” nadir-looking mode to i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Willatt, Rosemary, Stroeve, Julienne C., Nandan, Vishnu, Newman, Thomas, Mallett, Robbie, Hendricks, Stefan, Ricker, Robert, Mead, James, Itkin, Polona, Tonboe, Rasmus, Wagner, David N., Spreen, Gunnar, Liston, Glen, Schneebeli, Martin, Krampe, Daniela, Tsamados, Michel, Demir, Oguz, Wilkinson, Jeremy, Jaggi, Matthias, Zhou, Lu, Huntemann, Marcus, Raphael, Ian A., Jutila, Arttu, Oggier, Marc
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Sea ice
Snow
Radar
Altimetry
Polarimetric
Climate
/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action
name=SDG 13 - Climate Action
Arctic
Online Access:https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/f60d4ac4-ec00-461f-bb67-9e912cc9b442
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL104461
https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/files/338542116/Geophysical_Research_Letters_-_2023_-_Willatt_-_Retrieval_of_Snow_Depth_on_Arctic_Sea_Ice_From_Surface_Based_Polarimetric_.pdf
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Summary:Abstract Snow depth on sea ice is an Essential Climate Variable and a major source of uncertainty in satellite altimetry-derived sea ice thickness. During winter of the MOSAiC Expedition, the “KuKa” dual-frequency, fully polarized Ku- and Ka-band radar was deployed in “stare” nadir-looking mode to investigate the possibility of combining these two frequencies to retrieve snow depth. Three approaches were investigated: dual-frequency, dual-polarization and waveform shape, and compared to independent snow depth measurements. Novel dual-polarization approaches yielded r2 values up to 0.77. Mean snow depths agreed within 1 cm, even for data sub-banded to CryoSat-2 SIRAL and SARAL AltiKa bandwidths. Snow depths from co-polarized dual-frequency approaches were at least a factor of four too small and had a r2 0.15 or lower. r2 for waveform shape techniques reached 0.72 but depths were underestimated. Snow depth retrievals using polarimetric information or waveform shape may therefore be possible from airborne/satellite radar altimeters.

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