Intercomparison of synthetic- and real-aperture radar observations of Arctic sea ice during winter MIZEX '87

Active microwave measurements were made of various sea ice forms in March and April 1987 during the Marginal Ice Zone Experiment, at 1, 5, 10, 18, and 35 GHz using a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and helicopter and ship-based scatterometers. The X-band (9.8 GHz) SAR data were compared to the scatte...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Schuchmann, R. A., Onstott, R. G., Sutherland, L. L., Wackerman, C. C.
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:unknown
Published: 1988
Subjects:
43
Online Access:http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19890009373
Description
Summary:Active microwave measurements were made of various sea ice forms in March and April 1987 during the Marginal Ice Zone Experiment, at 1, 5, 10, 18, and 35 GHz using a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and helicopter and ship-based scatterometers. The X-band (9.8 GHz) SAR data were compared to the scatterometer data and it was determined that for 5 GHz and higher frequencies both the SAR and scatterometers can differentiate open water, new ice (5 to 30 cm), first-year ice with rubble (0.60 -1.5 m), and multiyear ice. The analysis further confirmed that the C-band (5 GHz) SAR's flying on ESA ERS-1 and Radarsat will differentiate the mentioned ice types.