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Characterization of L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter from floating and grounded thermokarst lake ice in Arctic Alaska
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Engram, M. Anthony, Katey Walter Meyer, Franz J. Grosse, Guido |
| Copyright Year | 2013 |
| Abstract | Abstract. Radar remote sensing is a well-established method to discriminate lakes retaining liquid-phase water beneath winter ice cover from those that do not. L-band (23.6 cm wavelength) airborne radar showed great promise in the 1970s, but spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) studies have focused on C-band (5.6 cm) SAR to classify lake ice with no further attention to L-band SAR for this purpose. Here, we examined calibrated L-band single- and quadrature-polarized SAR returns from floating and grounded lake ice in two regions of Alaska: the northern Seward Peninsula (NSP) where methane ebullition is common in lakes and the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) where ebullition is relatively rare. We found average backscatter intensities of −13 dB and −16 dB for late winter floating ice on the NSP and ACP, respectively, and −19 dB for grounded ice in both regions. Polarimetric analysis revealed that the mechanism of L-band SAR backscatter from floating ice is primarily roughness at the ice–water interface. L-band SAR showed less contrast between floating and grounded lake ice than C-band; however, since L-band is sensitive to ebullition bubbles trapped by lake ice (bubbles increase backscatter), this study helps elucidate potential confounding factors of grounded ice in methane studies using SAR. |
| Starting Page | 1741 |
| Ending Page | 1752 |
| Page Count | 12 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.5194/tc-7-1741-2013 |
| Volume Number | 7 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1741/2013/tc-7-1741-2013.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1741/2013/tc-7-1741-2013.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1741-2013 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
