A study on the c-band polarimetric scattering and physical characteristics of frost flowers on experimental sea ice

• Published in: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Isleifson, Dustin, Galley, Ryan James, Barber, David G., Landy, Jack C., Komarov, Alexander S., Shafai, Lotfollah
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Electromagnetic scattering by nonhomogeneous media; electromagnetic scattering measurements; geophysical measurements; laser radar; polarimetric radar; radar measurements; sea ice; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1983/bc15f2a5-98b6-482b-bc7a-3d4a03cccc3c; https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/bc15f2a5-98b6-482b-bc7a-3d4a03cccc3c; https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2013.2255060; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891557537&partnerID=8YFLogxK

A focused study on the C-band polarimetric scattering and physical characteristics of frost-flower-covered sea ice was conducted at the Sea-Ice Environmental Research Facility over a three day period. Sea ice was grown in an outdoor pool outfitted with automated sensors to monitor environmental conditions. C-band polarimetric scattering measurements were conducted continuously at a range of incidence angles, and surface roughness statistics were obtained at discrete times using a laser scanner system LiDAR. Four stages of development were identified that exhibited notably different physical and scattering characteristics: 1) initial formation; 2) surface brine expulsion; 3) frost flower growth; and 4) decimation. An optimal polarization and incidence angle is not readily apparent for the purposes of identifying the frost flower development Stages I-III; however, the lower incidence angles (25° and 35° appear to be most sensitive to the surface brine expulsion. Only the dual-polarization measurements at low incidence angles (e.g., 25° could be used to identify the onset of the decimation stage. Backscatter increased rapidly during the initial formation, with a local maximum corresponding to ∼80% areal coverage of frost flowers, followed by a local minimum when the surface was covered by a brine-rich surface layer, connoting that surface brine expulsion may be identified using polarimetric scatterometry.