Simulation of the Ku-band Radar altimeter sea ice effective scattering surface

Author

Tonboe, Rasmus ; Andersen, Soren ; Pedersen, Leif Toudal

Author_Institution

Danish Meteorological Inst., Copenhagen, Denmark

Volume

3

Issue

2

fYear

2006

fDate

4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

237

Lastpage

240

Abstract

A radiative transfer model is used to simulate the sea ice radar altimeter effective scattering surface variability as a function of snow depth and density. Under dry snow conditions without layering these are the primary snow parameters affecting the scattering surface variability. The model is initialized with in situ data collected during the May 2004 GreenIce ice camp in the Lincoln Sea (73°W; 85°N). Our results show that the snow cover is important for the effective scattering surface depth in sea ice and thus for the range measurement, ice freeboard, and ice thickness estimation.

Keywords

oceanographic regions; radar altimetry; radiative transfer; remote sensing by radar; sea ice; snow; AD 2004 05; GreenIce ice camp; Ku-band radar altimeter; Lincoln Sea; effective scattering surface depth; effective scattering surface variability; ice freeboard; ice thickness; radiative transfer model; sea ice; snow cover; snow density; snow depth; Ice surface; Light scattering; Ocean temperature; Optical scattering; Radar scattering; Sea ice; Sea measurements; Sea surface; Snow; Spaceborne radar; Altimetry; modeling; sea ice; snow;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1545-598X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LGRS.2005.862276

Filename

1621086