KU-Band radar altimeter for surface elevation measurements in polar regions using a wideband chirp generator with improved linearity

Author

Gomez-Garcia, D. ; Rodriguez-Morales, F. ; Leuschen, C. ; Gogineni, S.

Author_Institution

Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

22-27 July 2012

Firstpage

4617

Lastpage

4620

Abstract

A Ku-band ultra-wideband radar altimeter with 6 GHz of bandwidth has been developed for surface elevation measurements in polar ice sheets. The radar is equipped with a newly-designed chirp generator with sufficient linearity to resolve adjacent targets at ranges of 500 m or more. This capability allows the airborne radar to resolve closely spaced sub-surface reflectors and internal layers in polar firn. In this paper, we discuss the design and development of the radar and present sample results from recent field measurements over Byrd Glacier in Antarctica.

Keywords

airborne radar; geophysical techniques; glaciology; microwave measurement; radar altimetry; remote sensing by radar; Byrd Glacier Antarctica; Ku-band radar altimeter; airborne radar; bandwidth 6 GHz; closely spaced subsurface reflector; improved linearity; polar ice sheet; polar regions; surface elevation measurements; ultrawideband radar altimeter; wideband chirp generator; Bandwidth; Chirp; Generators; Ice; Snow; Spaceborne radar; Airborne radar; Ultra wideband radar; altimetry; chirp;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2012 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Munich

ISSN

2153-6996

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1160-1

Electronic_ISBN

2153-6996

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2012.6350437

Filename

6350437