Multifrequency Microwave Backscatter From a Highly Saline Snow Cover on Smooth First-Year Sea Ice: First-Order Theoretical Modeling

Nandan, Vishnu; Geldsetzer, Torsten; Yackel, John J.; Islam, Tanvir; Gill, Jagvijay P. S.; Mahmud, Mallik

doi:10.1109/tgrs.2016.2638323

Cited by 10 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The maximum δ P is attained using the equation P(d)/P(0 + ) = 1/e, where P(0 + ) is the power at the air/snow interface and P(d) is the power at depth d [14,29]. Hence, the deepest layer to which microwaves penetrate corresponds to approximately one third of the initial power that enters the snow layer [14,30]. The transmissivity and reflectivity influence the observed Ku-, X-and C-band σ 0 VV and σ 0 HH depending on polarization and θ inc , with the VV-polarized waves exhibiting greater transmissivity than HH-polarized waves, and HH-polarized waves exhibiting greater reflectivity.…”

Section: Brine Wetted Snow Dielectric Modeling and Penetration Depthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The MSIB model does not include backscatter contributions from large scale deformed FYI features such as ridges, as the study area in this research falls under relatively smooth FYI. Previous studies [10,11,13,14,30] have used the MSIB model (modified version of methods originally formulated by [28,33] for various snow cover on sea ice related studies.…”

Section: Multilayer Snow and Ice Backscatter (Msib) Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, a Rayleigh volume scattering model integrated into the MSIB model is justified in this study. Detailed description of the MSIB algorithm can be found in [30].…”

Section: Multilayer Snow and Ice Backscatter (Msib) Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Throughout all θ inc , Ku-band exhibits slightly greater σ 0 VV than σ 0 HH (~0.5 dB to 1.25 dB), for all three snow cover cases, when compared to X-and C-bands (Figure 5a). C-band consistently exhibits strong reflective behavior, with σ 0 HH > σ 0 VV by~2.5 dB for all three snow cover cases (Figure 5c) [30,31], owing to its greater ε mismatch at the air/snow interface [10][11][12]14,14,33,34].…”

Section: Ku- X-and C-band σmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, at higher microwave frequencies such as Ku-band, the influence of snow grains on microwave backscatter increases, leading to greater potential volume scattering estimates [14,15]. Moreover, MSIB model employing first-order Rayleigh scattering assumptions has shown its inability to simulate accurate microwave backscatter estimates at higher frequencies such as Ku-band [14,30], and warrants further research. Detailed description of sensitivity of higher microwave frequencies to snow microstructure can be found in [30].…”

Section: Ku- X-and C-band σmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ku-, X- and C-Band Microwave Backscatter Indices from Saline Snow Covers on Arctic First-Year Sea Ice

et al. 2017

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Abstract:In this study, we inter-compared observed Ku-, X-and C-band microwave backscatter from saline 14 cm, 8 cm, and 4 cm snow covers on smooth first-year sea ice. A Ku-, X-and C-band surface-borne polarimetric microwave scatterometer system was used to measure fully-polarimetric backscatter from the three snow covers, near-coincident with corresponding in situ snow thermophysical measurements. The study investigated differences in co-polarized backscatter observations from the scatterometer system for all three frequencies, modeled penetration depths, utilized co-pol ratios, and introduced dual-frequency ratios to discriminate dominant polarization-dependent frequencies from these snow covers. Results demonstrate that the measured co-polarized backscatter magnitude increased with decreasing snow thickness for all three frequencies, owing to stronger gradients in snow salinity within thinner snow covers. The innovative dual-frequency ratios suggest greater sensitivity of Ku-band microwaves to snow grain size as snow thickness increases and X-band microwaves to snow salinity changes as snow thickness decreases. C-band demonstrated minimal sensitivity to changes in snow salinities. Our results demonstrate the influence of salinity associated dielectric loss, throughout all layers of the three snow covers, as the governing factor affecting microwave backscatter and penetration from all three frequencies. Our "plot-scale" observations using co-polarized backscatter, co-pol ratios and dual-frequency ratios suggest the future potential to up-scale our multi-frequency approach to a "satellite-scale" approach, towards effective development of snow geophysical and thermodynamic retrieval algorithms on smooth first-year sea ice.

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Section: Brine Wetted Snow Dielectric Modeling and Penetration Depthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Multilayer Snow and Ice Backscatter (Msib) Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, a Rayleigh volume scattering model integrated into the MSIB model is justified in this study. Detailed description of the MSIB algorithm can be found in [30].…”

Section: Multilayer Snow and Ice Backscatter (Msib) Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%