C-band polarimetric backscattering signatures of newly formed sea ice during fall freeze-up

Dustin Isleifson; Byongjun Hwang; David G. Barber; Randall K. Scharien; Lotfollah Shafai

doi:10.1109/TGRS.2010.2043954

C-band polarimetric backscattering signatures of newly formed sea ice during fall freeze-up

Dustin Isleifson, Byongjun Hwang, David G. Barber, Randall K. Scharien, Lotfollah Shafai

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A study of the polarimetric backscattering response of newly formed sea ice types under a large assortment of surface coverage was conducted using a ship-based C-band polarimetric radar system. Polarimetric backscattering results and physical data for 40 stations during the fall freeze-up of 2003, 2006, and 2007 are presented. Analysis of the copolarized correlation coefficient showed its sensitivity to both sea ice thickness and surface coverage and resulted in a statistically significant separation of ice thickness into two regimes: ice less than 6 cm thick and ice greater than 8 cm thick. A case study quantified the backscatter of a layer of snow infiltrated frost flowers on new sea ice, showing that the presence of the old frost flowers can enhance the backscatter by more than 6 dB. Finally, a statistical analysis of a series of temporal-spatial measurements over a visually homogeneous frost-flower-covered ice floe identified temperature as a significant, but not exclusive, factor in the backscattering measurements.

Original language	English
Article number	5446365
Pages (from-to)	3256-3267
Number of pages	12
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Volume	48
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2010.2043954
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2010
Externally published	Yes

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title = "C-band polarimetric backscattering signatures of newly formed sea ice during fall freeze-up",

abstract = "A study of the polarimetric backscattering response of newly formed sea ice types under a large assortment of surface coverage was conducted using a ship-based C-band polarimetric radar system. Polarimetric backscattering results and physical data for 40 stations during the fall freeze-up of 2003, 2006, and 2007 are presented. Analysis of the copolarized correlation coefficient showed its sensitivity to both sea ice thickness and surface coverage and resulted in a statistically significant separation of ice thickness into two regimes: ice less than 6 cm thick and ice greater than 8 cm thick. A case study quantified the backscatter of a layer of snow infiltrated frost flowers on new sea ice, showing that the presence of the old frost flowers can enhance the backscatter by more than 6 dB. Finally, a statistical analysis of a series of temporal-spatial measurements over a visually homogeneous frost-flower-covered ice floe identified temperature as a significant, but not exclusive, factor in the backscattering measurements.",

keywords = "Arctic regions, polarimetric radar, radar measurements, sea ice",

author = "Dustin Isleifson and Byongjun Hwang and Barber, {David G.} and Scharien, {Randall K.} and Lotfollah Shafai",

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AU - Isleifson, Dustin

AU - Hwang, Byongjun

AU - Barber, David G.

AU - Scharien, Randall K.

AU - Shafai, Lotfollah

PY - 2010/8/1

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N2 - A study of the polarimetric backscattering response of newly formed sea ice types under a large assortment of surface coverage was conducted using a ship-based C-band polarimetric radar system. Polarimetric backscattering results and physical data for 40 stations during the fall freeze-up of 2003, 2006, and 2007 are presented. Analysis of the copolarized correlation coefficient showed its sensitivity to both sea ice thickness and surface coverage and resulted in a statistically significant separation of ice thickness into two regimes: ice less than 6 cm thick and ice greater than 8 cm thick. A case study quantified the backscatter of a layer of snow infiltrated frost flowers on new sea ice, showing that the presence of the old frost flowers can enhance the backscatter by more than 6 dB. Finally, a statistical analysis of a series of temporal-spatial measurements over a visually homogeneous frost-flower-covered ice floe identified temperature as a significant, but not exclusive, factor in the backscattering measurements.

AB - A study of the polarimetric backscattering response of newly formed sea ice types under a large assortment of surface coverage was conducted using a ship-based C-band polarimetric radar system. Polarimetric backscattering results and physical data for 40 stations during the fall freeze-up of 2003, 2006, and 2007 are presented. Analysis of the copolarized correlation coefficient showed its sensitivity to both sea ice thickness and surface coverage and resulted in a statistically significant separation of ice thickness into two regimes: ice less than 6 cm thick and ice greater than 8 cm thick. A case study quantified the backscatter of a layer of snow infiltrated frost flowers on new sea ice, showing that the presence of the old frost flowers can enhance the backscatter by more than 6 dB. Finally, a statistical analysis of a series of temporal-spatial measurements over a visually homogeneous frost-flower-covered ice floe identified temperature as a significant, but not exclusive, factor in the backscattering measurements.

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