Microwave backscatter over Greenland: changing with time

Ivan S. Ashcraft; David G. Long

doi:10.1117/12.453446

18 January 2002 Microwave backscatter over Greenland: changing with time

Ivan S. Ashcraft, David G. Long

Proceedings Volume 4483, Earth Observing Systems VI; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.453446
Event: International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, 2001, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

Changes in the Greenland ice sheet are considered important indicators of global climate change. These changes can be monitored using space-borne scatterometers which provide frequent coverage of the entire ice sheet. This paper provides a general overview of backscatter measurements over Greenland and the distinguishing attributes of the data sets over the different snow facies including temporal signatures. Seasat-A scatterometer (1978), NSCAT (1996-1997), SeaWinds (1999-present), and ERS AMI (1992-2000) scatterometer data are analyzed to evaluate the long term changes in the ice sheet. An increase in backscatter is observed in the dry snow zone near the dry snow zone/percolation zone boundary. A simple algorithm is applied to determine the length and extent of the melt for the summer of 1999 as observed by SeaWinds and ERS. A comparison between the two sensors shows similar results with the apparent differences attributed to the higher temporal resolution of SeaWinds and the difference in frequencies between the two instruments.

Citation Download Citation

Ivan S. Ashcraft and David G. Long "Microwave backscatter over Greenland: changing with time", Proc. SPIE 4483, Earth Observing Systems VI, (18 January 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.453446

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