Microwave remote sensing of artificial sea ice
Microwave remote sensing of artificial sea ice
Our SERF-2014 research project looks at linking physical properties of snow-covered sea ice and corresponding radar measurements. We use a C-band (5.5 GHz) fully-polarimetric scatterometer to measure the scattering response of sea ice. It has similar characteristics to the Canadian satellite RADARSAT-2. The signal measured by the radar is sensitive to the geophysical properties of the snow-covered sea ice such as roughness of the air-snow and snow-ice interfaces as well as snow temperature, density, and brine content, and sea ice temperature and salinity.
For the period of time from January 25 to February 7, 2014 we characterized thermodynamic evolution of snow-covered sea ice and collected corresponding time series fully-polarimetric radar data (at different incidence angles). Over this period the ice thickness changed from 3 to 35 cm. The collected time series physical properties of snow (temperature, salinity, density profiles) and ice (temperature, salinity as functions of depth) substantially control electromagnetic properties of the system. Furthermore, we used a LiDAR system that uses laser pulses to create a map of the surface of the ice (or snow). Each of the collected variables has an impact on the radar signatures. Our model study will link these variables and the radar response to better understand how the thermodynamic evolution of sea ice results in the radar signatures.
To investigate the possibility of retrieving physical properties of snow and sea ice from radar data we collected multi-frequency radar measurements (within the C-band) (at different incidence angles) for different ice conditions during our time series experiment. An inversion model will be applied to this data set.
Field site: Sea-ice Environmental Research Facility (SERF), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Project Lead: A. Komarov/Nariman Firoozy
PI: David Barber
Project Participants: Alexander Komarov (CEOS); Nariman Firoozy (CEOS); Dr. Randall Scharien (CEOS); Jack Landy (CEOS);Dr. John Yackel (Uof Calgary); Mallik Mahmoud (UofCalgary); Dr. Puyan Mojabi; Dr. Lot Shafai