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LIMEX '87 ice surface characteristics - Implications for C-band SAR backscatter signaturesIce surface characterization data collected in 1987, during the Labrador Sea Ice Margin Experiment, are analyzed to estimate the changes in snow and ice properties at the onset of melt. Surface measurements were made from an ice research vessel on several days (some of which had coincident remote-sensing flights) at a number of locations in the marginal ice zone. These data are used as input parameters in a simple scattering model to simulate the effects of variations in material properties upon C-band scattering signatures. Snow moisture and large-scale surface roughness are demonstrated to have the largest effect upon HH polarization scattering cross-section sigma(HH)(O) and large differences are predicted between undeformed floe surfaces and deformed or undulating rough ice surfaces. Using a parametric approach, an approximate picture of rough and smooth ice signatures and their relative contrast are provided. The models reproduce a trend observed in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of increasing backscatter contrast between deformed and underformed ice over an early period of warning: such observations are consistent with the results of analysis of SAR images to date. The model also reproduces a calibrated SAR-derived signature with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
Document ID
19900026856
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Drinkwater, Mark R.
(JPL Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
September 1, 1989
Publication Information
Publication: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Volume: 27
ISSN: 0196-2892
Subject Category
Oceanography
Accession Number
90A13911
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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