COREH2O: High-resolution X/Ku-band radar imaging of cold land processes

The CoReH2O mission design is mature; there are two viable technical configurations, and the breadboards of key hardware components, such as the dual-polarized antenna array feeds and high power amplifiers have been built and tested. The baseline retrieval algorithm has been intensively tested using simulated and experimental data. The tests confirm that the threshold performance for SWE products can be met under a wide range of snow conditions. Data from further field campaigns by the airborne SnowSAR acquired Austria, Canada, and Alaska from November 2012 through April 2013 are being analysed to investigate retrieval performance over alpine, glacier and tundra terrains.