The complex dielectric constant of snow at microwave frequencies

Tiuri, M.; Sihvola, Ari; Nyfors, Ebbe; Hallikaiken, M.

doi:10.1109/joe.1984.1145645

Cited by 407 publications

(316 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The profile distance of 150 m was estimated from the known sweep time of the radar waveform and Yeti's speed of 3.2 km/hr. The profile depth was estimated using snow density of 0.5 g/cm 3 which corresponds to relative permittivity ε = 2.0 [8]. Several important shear zone features are present in this profile.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous FMCW radar survey of Antarctic shear zone

Koh

Lever

Arcone

et al. 2010

Proceedings of the XIII Internarional Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar

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Abstract-Radar survey of the Antarctic shear zone was conducted using an ultra-wideband (2-10 GHz) frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar. The radar was mounted on a sled and pulled by a robot that was specifically designed to operate in a harsh polar environment. Our FMCW radar had good penetration through Antarctic snow and we observed snow stratigraphy to a depth of 20 m. The radar images also revealed multiple crevasses in the shear zone. Our results demonstrate that autonomous survey using high frequency radar is feasible and safe approach for detecting hidden crevasses.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous FMCW radar survey of Antarctic shear zone

Koh

Lever

Arcone

et al. 2010

Proceedings of the XIII Internarional Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar

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“…Using Eq. (1), we convert radar velocity to the dielectric constant (v = c/ √ κ ) and estimate the density of dry snow with the following empirical relationship (Tiuri et al, 1984):…”

Section: Estimating Swementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several previous studies have demonstrated that groundpenetrating radar (GPR) can be used to measure SWE (e.g., Bradford et al, 2009;Tiuri et al, 1984;Holbrook et al, 2016). Tiuri et al (1984) showed that at microwave frequencies the real part of the dielectric constant for dry snow, which governs the velocity, is almost completely determined by the bulk density of snow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring snow water equivalent from common-offset GPR records through migration velocity analysis

Clair

Holbrook

2017

The Cryosphere

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Abstract. Many mountainous regions depend on seasonal snowfall for their water resources. Current methods of predicting the availability of water resources rely on long-term relationships between stream discharge and snowpack monitoring at isolated locations, which are less reliable during abnormal snow years. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been shown to be an effective tool for measuring snow water equivalent (SWE) because of the close relationship between snow density and radar velocity. However, the standard methods of measuring radar velocity can be time-consuming. Here we apply a migration focusing method originally developed for extracting velocity information from diffracted energy observed in zero-offset seismic sections to the problem of estimating radar velocities in seasonal snow from common-offset GPR data. Diffractions are isolated by planewave-destruction (PWD) filtering and the optimal migration velocity is chosen based on the varimax norm of the migrated image. We then use the radar velocity to estimate snow density, depth, and SWE. The GPR-derived SWE estimates are within 6 % of manual SWE measurements when the GPR antenna is coupled to the snow surface and 3-21 % of the manual measurements when the antenna is mounted on the front of a snowmobile ∼ 0.5 m above the snow surface.

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“…' the real part of the effective dielectric constant of snow (Tiuri et al, 1984). Volume scattering mainly affects the Ka and Ku bands.…”

Section: Volume Echo Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variations of the backscattering coefficient measured by radar altimeters over the Antarctica Ice Sheet

Adodo¹,

Rémy²,

Picard³

2017

Preprint

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Abstract. Spaceborne radar altimeter is a valuable tool for observing the Antarctica Ice Sheet. The radar wave penetration into the snow provides information both on the surface and the subsurface of the snowpack due to its dependence on the snow properties. However this penetration also induces a negative bias on the estimated surface elevation. Empirical corrections of this space and time-varying bias are usually based on the backscattering coefficient variability. We investigate the spatial and seasonal variations of the backscattering coefficient at the S (3.2 GHz), Ku (13.6 GHz) and Ka (37 GHz) bands. We identified two clearly marked zones over the continent, one with the maximum of Ku band backscattering coefficient in the winter and another with the maximum in the summer. To explain this, we performed a sensitivity study of the backscattering coefficient at the S, Ku and Ka bands to surface snow density, snow temperature and snow grain size using an electromagnetic model. The results show that the seasonal cycle of the backscattering coefficient at the Ka band, is dominated by the volume echo and is mainly explained by snow temperature. In contrast, the cycle is dominated by the surface echo at the S band. At Ku band, which intermediate in terms of wavelength between S and Ka bands, the seasonal cycle is in the first zone dominated by the volume echo and by the surface echo in the second one. Such seasonal and spatial variations of the backscattering coefficient at different radar frequencies should be taken into account the for more precise estimation of the surface elevation changes.

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The complex dielectric constant of snow at microwave frequencies

Cited by 407 publications

References 8 publications

Autonomous FMCW radar survey of Antarctic shear zone

Autonomous FMCW radar survey of Antarctic shear zone

Measuring snow water equivalent from common-offset GPR records through migration velocity analysis

Seasonal variations of the backscattering coefficient measured by radar altimeters over the Antarctica Ice Sheet

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