Retrieval of Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice From Surface‐Based, Polarimetric, Dual‐Frequency Radar Altimetry

Rosemary Willatt; Julienne C. Stroeve; Vishnu Nandan; Thomas Newman; Robbie Mallett; Stefan Hendricks; Robert Ricker; James Mead; Polona Itkin; Rasmus Tonboe; David N. Wagner; Gunnar Spreen; Glen Liston; Martin Schneebeli; Daniela Krampe; Michel Tsamados; Oguz Demir; Jeremy Wilkinson; Matthias Jaggi; Lu Zhou; Marcus Huntemann; Ian A. Raphael; Arttu Jutila; Marc Oggier

doi:10.1029/2023GL104461

Retrieval of Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice From Surface‐Based, Polarimetric, Dual‐Frequency Radar Altimetry

Rosemary Willatt^*, Julienne C. Stroeve, Vishnu Nandan, Thomas Newman, Robbie Mallett, Stefan Hendricks, Robert Ricker, James Mead, Polona Itkin, Rasmus Tonboe, David N. Wagner, Gunnar Spreen, Glen Liston, Martin Schneebeli, Daniela Krampe, Michel Tsamados, Oguz Demir, Jeremy Wilkinson, Matthias Jaggi, Lu ZhouMarcus Huntemann, Ian A. Raphael, Arttu Jutila, Marc Oggier

^*Corresponding author for this work

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

5 Citations (Scopus)

11 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Snow depth on sea ice is an Essential Climate Variable and a major source of uncertainty in satellite altimetry-derived sea ice thickness. During winter of the MOSAiC Expedition, the “KuKa” dual-frequency, fully polarized Ku- and Ka-band radar was deployed in “stare” nadir-looking mode to investigate the possibility of combining these two frequencies to retrieve snow depth. Three approaches were investigated: dual-frequency, dual-polarization and waveform shape, and compared to independent snow depth measurements. Novel dual-polarization approaches yielded r2 values up to 0.77. Mean snow depths agreed within 1 cm, even for data sub-banded to CryoSat-2 SIRAL and SARAL AltiKa bandwidths. Snow depths from co-polarized dual-frequency approaches were at least a factor of four too small and had a r2 0.15 or lower. r2 for waveform shape techniques reached 0.72 but depths were underestimated. Snow depth retrievals using polarimetric information or waveform shape may therefore be possible from airborne/satellite radar altimeters.

Original language	English
Article number	e2023GL104461
Number of pages	11
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	50
Issue number	20
Early online date	18 Oct 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL104461
Publication status	Published - 28 Oct 2023
Externally published	Yes

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10.1029/2023GL104461Licence: CC BY

Geophysical Research Letters - 2023 - Willatt - Retrieval of Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice From Surface‐Based Polarimetric Final published version, 9.08 MBLicence: CC BY

https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10179710/Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Willatt, R., Stroeve, J. C., Nandan, V., Newman, T., Mallett, R., Hendricks, S., Ricker, R., Mead, J., Itkin, P., Tonboe, R., Wagner, D. N., Spreen, G., Liston, G., Schneebeli, M., Krampe, D., Tsamados, M., Demir, O., Wilkinson, J., Jaggi, M., ... Oggier, M. (2023). Retrieval of Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice From Surface‐Based, Polarimetric, Dual‐Frequency Radar Altimetry. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(20), Article e2023GL104461. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL104461

@article{acac7f619ca341fe9760ec9050021731,

title = "Retrieval of Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice From Surface‐Based, Polarimetric, Dual‐Frequency Radar Altimetry",

abstract = "Snow depth on sea ice is an Essential Climate Variable and a major source of uncertainty in satellite altimetry-derived sea ice thickness. During winter of the MOSAiC Expedition, the “KuKa” dual-frequency, fully polarized Ku- and Ka-band radar was deployed in “stare” nadir-looking mode to investigate the possibility of combining these two frequencies to retrieve snow depth. Three approaches were investigated: dual-frequency, dual-polarization and waveform shape, and compared to independent snow depth measurements. Novel dual-polarization approaches yielded r2 values up to 0.77. Mean snow depths agreed within 1 cm, even for data sub-banded to CryoSat-2 SIRAL and SARAL AltiKa bandwidths. Snow depths from co-polarized dual-frequency approaches were at least a factor of four too small and had a r2 0.15 or lower. r2 for waveform shape techniques reached 0.72 but depths were underestimated. Snow depth retrievals using polarimetric information or waveform shape may therefore be possible from airborne/satellite radar altimeters.",

author = "Rosemary Willatt and Stroeve, {Julienne C.} and Vishnu Nandan and Thomas Newman and Robbie Mallett and Stefan Hendricks and Robert Ricker and James Mead and Polona Itkin and Rasmus Tonboe and Wagner, {David N.} and Gunnar Spreen and Glen Liston and Martin Schneebeli and Daniela Krampe and Michel Tsamados and Oguz Demir and Jeremy Wilkinson and Matthias Jaggi and Lu Zhou and Marcus Huntemann and Raphael, {Ian A.} and Arttu Jutila and Marc Oggier",

note = "Funding information: Research funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NE/S002510/1, NE/L002485/1, NE/T000546/1, NE/X004643/1), HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (101003826, ARICE (Grant 730965)), European Space Agency (PO 5001027396, ESA/AO/1‐9132/17/NL/MP, ESA/AO/1‐10061/19/I‐EF), Swiss Polar Institute (DIRCR‐2018‐003), National Science Foundation (1820927 (MiSNOW),OPP‐1724540,OPP‐1724424), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (420499875).",

year = "2023",

month = oct,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1029/2023GL104461",

language = "English",

volume = "50",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "American Geophysical Union",

number = "20",

}

Willatt, R, Stroeve, JC, Nandan, V, Newman, T, Mallett, R, Hendricks, S, Ricker, R, Mead, J, Itkin, P, Tonboe, R, Wagner, DN, Spreen, G, Liston, G, Schneebeli, M, Krampe, D, Tsamados, M, Demir, O, Wilkinson, J, Jaggi, M, Zhou, L, Huntemann, M, Raphael, IA, Jutila, A & Oggier, M 2023, 'Retrieval of Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice From Surface‐Based, Polarimetric, Dual‐Frequency Radar Altimetry', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 50, no. 20, e2023GL104461. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL104461

TY - JOUR

T1 - Retrieval of Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice From Surface‐Based, Polarimetric, Dual‐Frequency Radar Altimetry

AU - Willatt, Rosemary

AU - Stroeve, Julienne C.

AU - Nandan, Vishnu

AU - Newman, Thomas

AU - Mallett, Robbie

AU - Hendricks, Stefan

AU - Ricker, Robert

AU - Mead, James

AU - Itkin, Polona

AU - Tonboe, Rasmus

AU - Wagner, David N.

AU - Spreen, Gunnar

AU - Liston, Glen

AU - Schneebeli, Martin

AU - Krampe, Daniela

AU - Tsamados, Michel

AU - Demir, Oguz

AU - Wilkinson, Jeremy

AU - Jaggi, Matthias

AU - Zhou, Lu

AU - Huntemann, Marcus

AU - Raphael, Ian A.

AU - Jutila, Arttu

AU - Oggier, Marc

N1 - Funding information: Research funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NE/S002510/1, NE/L002485/1, NE/T000546/1, NE/X004643/1), HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (101003826, ARICE (Grant 730965)), European Space Agency (PO 5001027396, ESA/AO/1‐9132/17/NL/MP, ESA/AO/1‐10061/19/I‐EF), Swiss Polar Institute (DIRCR‐2018‐003), National Science Foundation (1820927 (MiSNOW),OPP‐1724540,OPP‐1724424), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (420499875).

PY - 2023/10/28

Y1 - 2023/10/28

N2 - Snow depth on sea ice is an Essential Climate Variable and a major source of uncertainty in satellite altimetry-derived sea ice thickness. During winter of the MOSAiC Expedition, the “KuKa” dual-frequency, fully polarized Ku- and Ka-band radar was deployed in “stare” nadir-looking mode to investigate the possibility of combining these two frequencies to retrieve snow depth. Three approaches were investigated: dual-frequency, dual-polarization and waveform shape, and compared to independent snow depth measurements. Novel dual-polarization approaches yielded r2 values up to 0.77. Mean snow depths agreed within 1 cm, even for data sub-banded to CryoSat-2 SIRAL and SARAL AltiKa bandwidths. Snow depths from co-polarized dual-frequency approaches were at least a factor of four too small and had a r2 0.15 or lower. r2 for waveform shape techniques reached 0.72 but depths were underestimated. Snow depth retrievals using polarimetric information or waveform shape may therefore be possible from airborne/satellite radar altimeters.

AB - Snow depth on sea ice is an Essential Climate Variable and a major source of uncertainty in satellite altimetry-derived sea ice thickness. During winter of the MOSAiC Expedition, the “KuKa” dual-frequency, fully polarized Ku- and Ka-band radar was deployed in “stare” nadir-looking mode to investigate the possibility of combining these two frequencies to retrieve snow depth. Three approaches were investigated: dual-frequency, dual-polarization and waveform shape, and compared to independent snow depth measurements. Novel dual-polarization approaches yielded r2 values up to 0.77. Mean snow depths agreed within 1 cm, even for data sub-banded to CryoSat-2 SIRAL and SARAL AltiKa bandwidths. Snow depths from co-polarized dual-frequency approaches were at least a factor of four too small and had a r2 0.15 or lower. r2 for waveform shape techniques reached 0.72 but depths were underestimated. Snow depth retrievals using polarimetric information or waveform shape may therefore be possible from airborne/satellite radar altimeters.

U2 - 10.1029/2023GL104461

DO - 10.1029/2023GL104461

M3 - Article

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 50

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 20

M1 - e2023GL104461

ER -