Surface-based and Fully Polarimetric L-band Frequency Scatterometer System for Field Measurements of Sea Ice

Future synthetic aperture radar missions at L-band frequency, such as NASA-ISO NISAR and Copernicus ROSE-L, will provide relatively low frequency, deeply penetrating, snow and sea ice signals compared to traditional C-band and higher frequencies. A portable, sled- or tower-mounted L-band frequency radar scatterometer system designed to measure the radar backscatter characteristics of snow and sea ice in cold conditions in advance of these missions is described. The first polarimetric backscatter measurements collected using the system occurred during field campaigns in the Canadian Arctic in 2018, and the international Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition in the central Arctic in 2019/20. Geophysical measurements of the snow-covered sea ice volume enable the signature controlling properties to be examined in the context of L-band SAR utilization.