Azimuth variation in microwave backscatter over the Greenland Ice Sheet

Author

Ashcraft, Ivan S. ; Long, David G.

Author_Institution

Microwave Earth Remote Sensing Lab., Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT, USA

Volume

4

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

1779

Abstract

Scatterometer backscatter measurements are becoming an important tool for monitoring the dynamic behavior of the Greenland Ice S heet. However, most Greenland studies assume constant backscatter for varying azimuth angles. Detailed analysis of scatterometer data sets show non-negligible (1-2 dB) azimuth modulation. The magnitude and orientation of the azimuth modulation observed by SeaWinds, NSCAT, and ERS are documented herein. The dominate factor is second order azimuth modulation, which is largest for C-band (ERS). For SeaWinds, the h-pol azimuth modulation is larger than for v-pol

Keywords

backscatter; glaciology; hydrological techniques; radar cross-sections; remote sensing by radar; snow; C-band; Greenland Ice Sheet; azimuth modulation; azimuth variation; glaciology; measurement technique; microwave backscatter; polar ice sheet; polarization; radar polarimetry; radar remote sensing; radar scattering; radar scatterometry; snow cover; snowcover; snowpack; Azimuth; Backscatter; Earth; Ice; Laboratories; Least squares methods; Microwave measurements; Radar measurements; Remote monitoring; Sea measurements;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2001. IGARSS '01. IEEE 2001 International

Conference_Location

Sydney, NSW

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7031-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2001.977069

Filename

977069