Retrieval of Firn Thickness by Means of Polarisation Phase Differences in L-Band SAR Data
The knowledge of glacier zones’ extent and their temporal variations is fundamental for the retrieval of surface mass balance of glaciers and ice sheets. In this context, a key parameter is the firn line (FL), the lower boundary of the percolation zone, whose location is an indicator of time-integra...
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/515496 2023-05-15T16:21:25+02:00 Retrieval of Firn Thickness by Means of Polarisation Phase Differences in L-Band SAR Data Parrella, Giuseppe Hajnsek, Irena Papathanassiou, Konstantinos P. 2021-11 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/515496 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000515496 en eng MDPI info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3390/rs13214448 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000720453600001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/515496 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000515496 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International CC-BY Remote Sensing, 13 (21) Synthetic Aperture Radar polarimetry differential propagation firn anisotropy Greenland info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2021 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/515496 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000515496 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13214448 2022-04-25T14:37:03Z The knowledge of glacier zones’ extent and their temporal variations is fundamental for the retrieval of surface mass balance of glaciers and ice sheets. In this context, a key parameter is the firn line (FL), the lower boundary of the percolation zone, whose location is an indicator of time-integrated mass balance changes. Several approaches have been developed in the last decades to map the FL by means of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, mainly exploiting backscatter intensities and their seasonal variation. In this paper, an alternative approach is proposed, based on co-polarisation phase differences (CPDs). In particular, CPDs are interpreted as the result of propagation through anisotropic firn layers and are, therefore, proposed as an indicator of the presence of firn. A model is employed to demonstrate the link between CPDs and firn depth, indicating the potential of polarimetric SAR to improve firn characterization beyond spatial extent and FL detection. The proposed approach is demonstrated on L-band airborne data, acquired on 21 May 2015 by the F-SAR sensor of DLR in West Greenland during the ARCTIC15 campaign, and validated with in-situ information available from other studies. ISSN:2072-4292 Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland ETH Zürich Research Collection Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ETH Zürich Research Collection |
op_collection_id |
ftethz |
language |
English |
topic |
Synthetic Aperture Radar polarimetry differential propagation firn anisotropy Greenland |
spellingShingle |
Synthetic Aperture Radar polarimetry differential propagation firn anisotropy Greenland Parrella, Giuseppe Hajnsek, Irena Papathanassiou, Konstantinos P. Retrieval of Firn Thickness by Means of Polarisation Phase Differences in L-Band SAR Data |
topic_facet |
Synthetic Aperture Radar polarimetry differential propagation firn anisotropy Greenland |
description |
The knowledge of glacier zones’ extent and their temporal variations is fundamental for the retrieval of surface mass balance of glaciers and ice sheets. In this context, a key parameter is the firn line (FL), the lower boundary of the percolation zone, whose location is an indicator of time-integrated mass balance changes. Several approaches have been developed in the last decades to map the FL by means of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, mainly exploiting backscatter intensities and their seasonal variation. In this paper, an alternative approach is proposed, based on co-polarisation phase differences (CPDs). In particular, CPDs are interpreted as the result of propagation through anisotropic firn layers and are, therefore, proposed as an indicator of the presence of firn. A model is employed to demonstrate the link between CPDs and firn depth, indicating the potential of polarimetric SAR to improve firn characterization beyond spatial extent and FL detection. The proposed approach is demonstrated on L-band airborne data, acquired on 21 May 2015 by the F-SAR sensor of DLR in West Greenland during the ARCTIC15 campaign, and validated with in-situ information available from other studies. ISSN:2072-4292 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Parrella, Giuseppe Hajnsek, Irena Papathanassiou, Konstantinos P. |
author_facet |
Parrella, Giuseppe Hajnsek, Irena Papathanassiou, Konstantinos P. |
author_sort |
Parrella, Giuseppe |
title |
Retrieval of Firn Thickness by Means of Polarisation Phase Differences in L-Band SAR Data |
title_short |
Retrieval of Firn Thickness by Means of Polarisation Phase Differences in L-Band SAR Data |
title_full |
Retrieval of Firn Thickness by Means of Polarisation Phase Differences in L-Band SAR Data |
title_fullStr |
Retrieval of Firn Thickness by Means of Polarisation Phase Differences in L-Band SAR Data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Retrieval of Firn Thickness by Means of Polarisation Phase Differences in L-Band SAR Data |
title_sort |
retrieval of firn thickness by means of polarisation phase differences in l-band sar data |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/515496 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000515496 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland |
op_source |
Remote Sensing, 13 (21) |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3390/rs13214448 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000720453600001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/515496 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000515496 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/515496 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000515496 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13214448 |
_version_ |
1766009423046639616 |