ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland
We present data from the European Space Agency's Airborne SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter System (ASIRAS), flown during the CryoVex 2004 field calibration/validation campaign, and new, high-resolution depth profiles of snow density measured in the field by neutron scattering. We combine the...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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American Geophysical Union
2006
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/54/ |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:54 2023-05-15T14:05:15+02:00 ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland Hawley, R.L. Morris, E.M. Cullen, R. Nixdorf, U. Shepherd, A.P. Wingham, D.J. 2006 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/54/ unknown American Geophysical Union Hawley, R.L.; Morris, E.M.; Cullen, R.; Nixdorf, U.; Shepherd, A.P.; Wingham, D.J. 2006 ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland. Geophysical Research Letters, 33 (4), L04502. 5, pp. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL025147 <https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL025147> Glaciology Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2006 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL025147 2023-02-04T19:20:01Z We present data from the European Space Agency's Airborne SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter System (ASIRAS), flown during the CryoVex 2004 field calibration/validation campaign, and new, high-resolution depth profiles of snow density measured in the field by neutron scattering. We combine these data to calculate the depth of internal reflecting horizons in the ASIRAS data. The high resolution density data allow us to identify annual layers in the snow density profile, and correlate their peaks with the reflecting horizons. We use the thickness of the annual layers combined with the density profile to determine the spatial and temporal pattern of snow accumulation along the radar track, for a period of 6 years from 1995–2002. Our mean-annual accumulation rate is 0.47 ± 0.09 ma−1 water equivalent, in agreement with the value determined from a core taken in this location in 1992. Similarly, our inter-annual variability shows the same trends as recent model estimates over the entire ice sheet. Because ASIRAS was designed to mimic as closely as possible the characteristics of the SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL), the principal payload of CryoSat, the detection of internal layering with ASIRAS illuminates the possibility of detecting internal layers with a space-borne radar, and thus the possible application of this technique to the dry-snow zones of Antarctica, Greenland, and smaller ice bodies. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Greenland Geophysical Research Letters 33 4 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Glaciology |
spellingShingle |
Glaciology Hawley, R.L. Morris, E.M. Cullen, R. Nixdorf, U. Shepherd, A.P. Wingham, D.J. ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland |
topic_facet |
Glaciology |
description |
We present data from the European Space Agency's Airborne SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter System (ASIRAS), flown during the CryoVex 2004 field calibration/validation campaign, and new, high-resolution depth profiles of snow density measured in the field by neutron scattering. We combine these data to calculate the depth of internal reflecting horizons in the ASIRAS data. The high resolution density data allow us to identify annual layers in the snow density profile, and correlate their peaks with the reflecting horizons. We use the thickness of the annual layers combined with the density profile to determine the spatial and temporal pattern of snow accumulation along the radar track, for a period of 6 years from 1995–2002. Our mean-annual accumulation rate is 0.47 ± 0.09 ma−1 water equivalent, in agreement with the value determined from a core taken in this location in 1992. Similarly, our inter-annual variability shows the same trends as recent model estimates over the entire ice sheet. Because ASIRAS was designed to mimic as closely as possible the characteristics of the SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL), the principal payload of CryoSat, the detection of internal layering with ASIRAS illuminates the possibility of detecting internal layers with a space-borne radar, and thus the possible application of this technique to the dry-snow zones of Antarctica, Greenland, and smaller ice bodies. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hawley, R.L. Morris, E.M. Cullen, R. Nixdorf, U. Shepherd, A.P. Wingham, D.J. |
author_facet |
Hawley, R.L. Morris, E.M. Cullen, R. Nixdorf, U. Shepherd, A.P. Wingham, D.J. |
author_sort |
Hawley, R.L. |
title |
ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland |
title_short |
ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland |
title_full |
ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland |
title_fullStr |
ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland |
title_sort |
asiras airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of greenland |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/54/ |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
Hawley, R.L.; Morris, E.M.; Cullen, R.; Nixdorf, U.; Shepherd, A.P.; Wingham, D.J. 2006 ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry-snow zone of Greenland. Geophysical Research Letters, 33 (4), L04502. 5, pp. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL025147 <https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL025147> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL025147 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
33 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1766277002235478016 |