Model-Based Interpretation of PolSAR Data for the Characterization of Glacier Zones in Greenland
Different approaches have been proposed in recent years to map glacier zones using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Most of them rely on empirical or statistical approaches for the interpretation of backscatter intensity measurements and their seasonal variations related to the melting regime of the...
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/518625 2023-05-15T15:11:27+02:00 Model-Based Interpretation of PolSAR Data for the Characterization of Glacier Zones in Greenland Parrella, Giuseppe Hajnsek, Irena Papathanassiou, Konstantinos 2021 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/518625 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000518625 en eng IEEE info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3126069 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000722001900007 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/518625 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000518625 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International CC-BY IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 14 Firn line glacier zones Greenland polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) polarization phase difference info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2021 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/518625 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000518625 https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3126069 2022-04-25T14:38:41Z Different approaches have been proposed in recent years to map glacier zones using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Most of them rely on empirical or statistical approaches for the interpretation of backscatter intensity measurements and their seasonal variations related to the melting regime of the different glacier zones. This article focuses on the potential of polarimetric SAR measurements to characterize the scattering in the different glacier zones in order to distinguish between them. For this, a general two-component scattering model is proposed, accounting for surface and subsurface contributions in the different glacier zones. The (anisotropic) propagation through snow, firn, and ice layers is also accounted for as it plays an important role in the interpretation of the polarimetric signatures. A set of five polarimetric descriptors is proposed to describe the projection of the model on the SAR measurements. The ability of the model to characterize the scattering in the different glacier zones is validated and discussed at different frequencies (X-, C-, and L-band). For this, a multifrequency airborne SAR dataset acquired by the DLR's F-SAR sensor in West Greenland during the ARCTIC 2015 campaign is used. The achieved results indicate that L-band polarimetric measurements allow to differentiate the different glacier zones based on the subsurface (e.g., volume) scattering characteristics. In contrast, the increased (back-) scattering complexity and the reduced penetration capability limit the potential of X- and C-band polarimetric measurements. ISSN:1939-1404 ISSN:2151-1535 Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic glacier Greenland ETH Zürich Research Collection Arctic Greenland Line Glacier ENVELOPE(167.833,167.833,-72.983,-72.983) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ETH Zürich Research Collection |
op_collection_id |
ftethz |
language |
English |
topic |
Firn line glacier zones Greenland polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) polarization phase difference |
spellingShingle |
Firn line glacier zones Greenland polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) polarization phase difference Parrella, Giuseppe Hajnsek, Irena Papathanassiou, Konstantinos Model-Based Interpretation of PolSAR Data for the Characterization of Glacier Zones in Greenland |
topic_facet |
Firn line glacier zones Greenland polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) polarization phase difference |
description |
Different approaches have been proposed in recent years to map glacier zones using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Most of them rely on empirical or statistical approaches for the interpretation of backscatter intensity measurements and their seasonal variations related to the melting regime of the different glacier zones. This article focuses on the potential of polarimetric SAR measurements to characterize the scattering in the different glacier zones in order to distinguish between them. For this, a general two-component scattering model is proposed, accounting for surface and subsurface contributions in the different glacier zones. The (anisotropic) propagation through snow, firn, and ice layers is also accounted for as it plays an important role in the interpretation of the polarimetric signatures. A set of five polarimetric descriptors is proposed to describe the projection of the model on the SAR measurements. The ability of the model to characterize the scattering in the different glacier zones is validated and discussed at different frequencies (X-, C-, and L-band). For this, a multifrequency airborne SAR dataset acquired by the DLR's F-SAR sensor in West Greenland during the ARCTIC 2015 campaign is used. The achieved results indicate that L-band polarimetric measurements allow to differentiate the different glacier zones based on the subsurface (e.g., volume) scattering characteristics. In contrast, the increased (back-) scattering complexity and the reduced penetration capability limit the potential of X- and C-band polarimetric measurements. ISSN:1939-1404 ISSN:2151-1535 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Parrella, Giuseppe Hajnsek, Irena Papathanassiou, Konstantinos |
author_facet |
Parrella, Giuseppe Hajnsek, Irena Papathanassiou, Konstantinos |
author_sort |
Parrella, Giuseppe |
title |
Model-Based Interpretation of PolSAR Data for the Characterization of Glacier Zones in Greenland |
title_short |
Model-Based Interpretation of PolSAR Data for the Characterization of Glacier Zones in Greenland |
title_full |
Model-Based Interpretation of PolSAR Data for the Characterization of Glacier Zones in Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Model-Based Interpretation of PolSAR Data for the Characterization of Glacier Zones in Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Model-Based Interpretation of PolSAR Data for the Characterization of Glacier Zones in Greenland |
title_sort |
model-based interpretation of polsar data for the characterization of glacier zones in greenland |
publisher |
IEEE |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/518625 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000518625 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(167.833,167.833,-72.983,-72.983) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Line Glacier |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Line Glacier |
genre |
Arctic glacier Greenland |
genre_facet |
Arctic glacier Greenland |
op_source |
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 14 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3126069 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000722001900007 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/518625 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000518625 |
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/20.500.11850/518625 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000518625 https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3126069 |
_version_ |
1766342298943094784 |