Airborne Ku-band polarimetric radar remote sensing of terrestrial snow cover

Preliminary analyses of the POLSCAT data acquired from the CLPX-II in winter 2006-2007 are described in this paper. The data showed the response of the Ku-band radar echoes to snowpack changes for various types of background vegetation. We observed about 0.2 to 0.4 dB increases in backscatter for every 1 cm SWE accumulation for sage brush and agricultural fields. The co-polarized VV and HH radar responses are similar, while the cross-polarized (VH or HV) echoes showed greater response to the change of SWE. The data also showed the impact of surface hoar growth and freeze/thaw cycles, which created large snow grain sizes and ice lenses, respectively, and consequently increased the radar signals by a few dBs.