Sea ice characterization with a millimeter wave scatterometer

The Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory (MIRSL) of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst operates a 35 GHz scatterometer built around an HP 8510 network analyzer. This instrument was used in January, 1993 as part of a multi-institution experiment at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire. During the course of this experiment, 35 GHz; backscatter data was obtained for several incidence angles and four polarizations on an outdoor saline ice sheet under a variety of conditions, including ice growth to 7 cm, progressive stages of ice surface roughness, and ice sheet snow coverage. The observed changes in normalized radar cross section and depolarization due to incidence angle, surface roughness, ice salinity, ice thickness, ice and air temperature and snow cover are discussed.<
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