The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment
Recent advancement in the understanding of snow-microwave interactions has helped to isolate the considerable potential for radar-based retrieval of snow water equivalent (SWE). There are however, few datasets available to address spatial uncertainties, such as the influence of snow microstructure,...
Published in: | Remote Sensing of Environment |
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Online Access: | https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34396/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.05.028 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34396/1/King%20et%20al%20-%20The%20influence%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20on%20dual-frequency%20radar%20measurements%20in%20a%20tundra%20environment%20AAM.docx |
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ftunivnorthumb:oai:nrl.northumbria.ac.uk:34396 2023-05-15T18:40:16+02:00 The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment King, Josh Derksen, Chris Toose, Peter Langlois, Alexandre Larse, Chris Lemmetyinen, Juha Marsh, Phil Montpetit, Benoit Roy, Alexandre Rutter, Nick Sturm, Matthew 2018-09-15 text https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34396/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.05.028 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34396/1/King%20et%20al%20-%20The%20influence%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20on%20dual-frequency%20radar%20measurements%20in%20a%20tundra%20environment%20AAM.docx en eng Elsevier https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34396/1/King%20et%20al%20-%20The%20influence%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20on%20dual-frequency%20radar%20measurements%20in%20a%20tundra%20environment%20AAM.docx King, Josh, Derksen, Chris, Toose, Peter, Langlois, Alexandre, Larse, Chris, Lemmetyinen, Juha, Marsh, Phil, Montpetit, Benoit, Roy, Alexandre, Rutter, Nick and Sturm, Matthew (2018) The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment. Remote Sensing of Environment, 215. pp. 242-254. ISSN 0034-4257 F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Article PeerReviewed 2018 ftunivnorthumb https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.05.028 2022-09-25T06:07:21Z Recent advancement in the understanding of snow-microwave interactions has helped to isolate the considerable potential for radar-based retrieval of snow water equivalent (SWE). There are however, few datasets available to address spatial uncertainties, such as the influence of snow microstructure, at scales relevant to space-borne application. In this study we introduce measurements from SnowSAR, an airborne, dual-frequency (9.6 and 17.2 GHz) synthetic aperture radar (SAR), to evaluate high resolution (10 m) backscatter within a snow-covered tundra basin. Coincident in situ surveys at two sites characterize a generally thin snowpack (50 cm) interspersed with deeper drift features. Structure of the snowpack is found to be predominantly wind slab (65%) with smaller proportions of depth hoar underlain (35%). Objective estimates of snow microstructure (exponential correlation length; l_"ex" ), show the slab layers to be 2.8 times smaller than the basal depth hoar. In situ measurements are used to parametrize the Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks (MEMLS3&a) and compare against collocated SnowSAR backscatter. The evaluation shows a scaling factor (ϕ) between 1.37 and 1.08, when applied to input of l_"ex" , minimizes MEMLS root mean root mean squared error to less than 1.1 dB. Model sensitivity experiments demonstrate contrasting contributions from wind slab and depth hoar components, where wind rounded microstructures are identified as a strong control on observed backscatter. Weak sensitivity of SnowSAR to spatial variations in SWE is explained by the smaller contributing microstructures of the wind slab. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) Remote Sensing of Environment 215 242 254 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnorthumb |
language |
English |
topic |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences King, Josh Derksen, Chris Toose, Peter Langlois, Alexandre Larse, Chris Lemmetyinen, Juha Marsh, Phil Montpetit, Benoit Roy, Alexandre Rutter, Nick Sturm, Matthew The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment |
topic_facet |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
description |
Recent advancement in the understanding of snow-microwave interactions has helped to isolate the considerable potential for radar-based retrieval of snow water equivalent (SWE). There are however, few datasets available to address spatial uncertainties, such as the influence of snow microstructure, at scales relevant to space-borne application. In this study we introduce measurements from SnowSAR, an airborne, dual-frequency (9.6 and 17.2 GHz) synthetic aperture radar (SAR), to evaluate high resolution (10 m) backscatter within a snow-covered tundra basin. Coincident in situ surveys at two sites characterize a generally thin snowpack (50 cm) interspersed with deeper drift features. Structure of the snowpack is found to be predominantly wind slab (65%) with smaller proportions of depth hoar underlain (35%). Objective estimates of snow microstructure (exponential correlation length; l_"ex" ), show the slab layers to be 2.8 times smaller than the basal depth hoar. In situ measurements are used to parametrize the Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks (MEMLS3&a) and compare against collocated SnowSAR backscatter. The evaluation shows a scaling factor (ϕ) between 1.37 and 1.08, when applied to input of l_"ex" , minimizes MEMLS root mean root mean squared error to less than 1.1 dB. Model sensitivity experiments demonstrate contrasting contributions from wind slab and depth hoar components, where wind rounded microstructures are identified as a strong control on observed backscatter. Weak sensitivity of SnowSAR to spatial variations in SWE is explained by the smaller contributing microstructures of the wind slab. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
King, Josh Derksen, Chris Toose, Peter Langlois, Alexandre Larse, Chris Lemmetyinen, Juha Marsh, Phil Montpetit, Benoit Roy, Alexandre Rutter, Nick Sturm, Matthew |
author_facet |
King, Josh Derksen, Chris Toose, Peter Langlois, Alexandre Larse, Chris Lemmetyinen, Juha Marsh, Phil Montpetit, Benoit Roy, Alexandre Rutter, Nick Sturm, Matthew |
author_sort |
King, Josh |
title |
The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment |
title_short |
The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment |
title_full |
The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment |
title_fullStr |
The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment |
title_full_unstemmed |
The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment |
title_sort |
influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34396/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.05.028 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34396/1/King%20et%20al%20-%20The%20influence%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20on%20dual-frequency%20radar%20measurements%20in%20a%20tundra%20environment%20AAM.docx |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_relation |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/34396/1/King%20et%20al%20-%20The%20influence%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20on%20dual-frequency%20radar%20measurements%20in%20a%20tundra%20environment%20AAM.docx King, Josh, Derksen, Chris, Toose, Peter, Langlois, Alexandre, Larse, Chris, Lemmetyinen, Juha, Marsh, Phil, Montpetit, Benoit, Roy, Alexandre, Rutter, Nick and Sturm, Matthew (2018) The influence of snow microstructure on dual-frequency radar measurements in a tundra environment. Remote Sensing of Environment, 215. pp. 242-254. ISSN 0034-4257 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.05.028 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing of Environment |
container_volume |
215 |
container_start_page |
242 |
op_container_end_page |
254 |
_version_ |
1766229564103589888 |