Model for estimating surface roughness of level and ridged sea ice using ERS-1 SAR

A comparison between backscatter models and measurements show that ERS-1 SAR backscatter from Baltic sea ice is highly dependent on the surface roughness of both level and ridged ice. A theoretical backscatter model for level ice and an empirical model for deformed ice are combined to cover the total range of roughness scales present. The inverse model may be used to estimate the ice surface roughness from ERS-1 SAR images during dry snow conditions. The deviation between the model estimate and the measured ice surface RMS height is approximately /spl plusmn/50%.<
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