Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice
Wind-driven redistribution of snow on sea ice alters its topography and microstructure, yet the impact of these processes on radar signatures is poorly understood. Here, we examine the effects of snow redistribution over Arctic sea ice on radar waveforms and backscatter signatures obtained from a su...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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2023
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00066828 2023-06-18T03:39:12+02:00 Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice Nandan, Vishnu Willatt, Rosemary Mallett, Robbie Stroeve, Julienne Geldsetzer, Torsten Scharien, Randall Tonboe, Rasmus Yackel, John Landy, Jack Clemens-Sewall, David Jutila, Arttu Wagner, David N. Krampe, Daniela Huntemann, Marcus Mahmud, Mallik Jensen, David Newman, Thomas Hendricks, Stefan Spreen, Gunnar Macfarlane, Amy Schneebeli, Martin Mead, James Ricker, Robert Gallagher, Michael Duguay, Claude Raphael, Ian Polashenski, Chris Tsamados, Michel Matero, Ilkka Hoppmann, Mario 2023-06 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00066828 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00065299/tc-17-2211-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2211/2023/tc-17-2211-2023.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00066828 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00065299/tc-17-2211-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2211/2023/tc-17-2211-2023.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2023 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023 2023-06-04T23:18:50Z Wind-driven redistribution of snow on sea ice alters its topography and microstructure, yet the impact of these processes on radar signatures is poorly understood. Here, we examine the effects of snow redistribution over Arctic sea ice on radar waveforms and backscatter signatures obtained from a surface-based, fully polarimetric Ka- and Ku-band radar at incidence angles between 0∘ (nadir) and 50∘. Two wind events in November 2019 during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition are evaluated. During both events, changes in Ka- and Ku-band radar waveforms and backscatter coefficients at nadir are observed, coincident with surface topography changes measured by a terrestrial laser scanner. At both frequencies, redistribution caused snow densification at the surface and the uppermost layers, increasing the scattering at the air–snow interface at nadir and its prevalence as the dominant radar scattering surface. The waveform data also detected the presence of previous air–snow interfaces, buried beneath newly deposited snow. The additional scattering from previous air–snow interfaces could therefore affect the range retrieved from Ka- and Ku-band satellite altimeters. With increasing incidence angles, the relative scattering contribution of the air–snow interface decreases, and the snow–sea ice interface scattering increases. Relative to pre-wind event conditions, azimuthally averaged backscatter at nadir during the wind events increases by up to 8 dB (Ka-band) and 5 dB (Ku-band). Results show substantial backscatter variability within the scan area at all incidence angles and polarizations, in response to increasing wind speed and changes in wind direction. Our results show that snow redistribution and wind compaction need to be accounted for to interpret airborne and satellite radar measurements of snow-covered sea ice. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Arctic The Cryosphere 17 6 2211 2229 |
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Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA |
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ftnonlinearchiv |
language |
English |
topic |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung Nandan, Vishnu Willatt, Rosemary Mallett, Robbie Stroeve, Julienne Geldsetzer, Torsten Scharien, Randall Tonboe, Rasmus Yackel, John Landy, Jack Clemens-Sewall, David Jutila, Arttu Wagner, David N. Krampe, Daniela Huntemann, Marcus Mahmud, Mallik Jensen, David Newman, Thomas Hendricks, Stefan Spreen, Gunnar Macfarlane, Amy Schneebeli, Martin Mead, James Ricker, Robert Gallagher, Michael Duguay, Claude Raphael, Ian Polashenski, Chris Tsamados, Michel Matero, Ilkka Hoppmann, Mario Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
Wind-driven redistribution of snow on sea ice alters its topography and microstructure, yet the impact of these processes on radar signatures is poorly understood. Here, we examine the effects of snow redistribution over Arctic sea ice on radar waveforms and backscatter signatures obtained from a surface-based, fully polarimetric Ka- and Ku-band radar at incidence angles between 0∘ (nadir) and 50∘. Two wind events in November 2019 during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition are evaluated. During both events, changes in Ka- and Ku-band radar waveforms and backscatter coefficients at nadir are observed, coincident with surface topography changes measured by a terrestrial laser scanner. At both frequencies, redistribution caused snow densification at the surface and the uppermost layers, increasing the scattering at the air–snow interface at nadir and its prevalence as the dominant radar scattering surface. The waveform data also detected the presence of previous air–snow interfaces, buried beneath newly deposited snow. The additional scattering from previous air–snow interfaces could therefore affect the range retrieved from Ka- and Ku-band satellite altimeters. With increasing incidence angles, the relative scattering contribution of the air–snow interface decreases, and the snow–sea ice interface scattering increases. Relative to pre-wind event conditions, azimuthally averaged backscatter at nadir during the wind events increases by up to 8 dB (Ka-band) and 5 dB (Ku-band). Results show substantial backscatter variability within the scan area at all incidence angles and polarizations, in response to increasing wind speed and changes in wind direction. Our results show that snow redistribution and wind compaction need to be accounted for to interpret airborne and satellite radar measurements of snow-covered sea ice. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nandan, Vishnu Willatt, Rosemary Mallett, Robbie Stroeve, Julienne Geldsetzer, Torsten Scharien, Randall Tonboe, Rasmus Yackel, John Landy, Jack Clemens-Sewall, David Jutila, Arttu Wagner, David N. Krampe, Daniela Huntemann, Marcus Mahmud, Mallik Jensen, David Newman, Thomas Hendricks, Stefan Spreen, Gunnar Macfarlane, Amy Schneebeli, Martin Mead, James Ricker, Robert Gallagher, Michael Duguay, Claude Raphael, Ian Polashenski, Chris Tsamados, Michel Matero, Ilkka Hoppmann, Mario |
author_facet |
Nandan, Vishnu Willatt, Rosemary Mallett, Robbie Stroeve, Julienne Geldsetzer, Torsten Scharien, Randall Tonboe, Rasmus Yackel, John Landy, Jack Clemens-Sewall, David Jutila, Arttu Wagner, David N. Krampe, Daniela Huntemann, Marcus Mahmud, Mallik Jensen, David Newman, Thomas Hendricks, Stefan Spreen, Gunnar Macfarlane, Amy Schneebeli, Martin Mead, James Ricker, Robert Gallagher, Michael Duguay, Claude Raphael, Ian Polashenski, Chris Tsamados, Michel Matero, Ilkka Hoppmann, Mario |
author_sort |
Nandan, Vishnu |
title |
Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice |
title_short |
Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice |
title_full |
Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice |
title_fullStr |
Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice |
title_sort |
wind redistribution of snow impacts the ka- and ku-band radar signatures of arctic sea ice |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00066828 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00065299/tc-17-2211-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2211/2023/tc-17-2211-2023.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00066828 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00065299/tc-17-2211-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2211/2023/tc-17-2211-2023.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2211 |
op_container_end_page |
2229 |
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1769003989154660352 |