The application of L-band and C-band radar measurements to monitoring land snow cover

Author

West, Richard D.

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

4

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Firstpage

1751

Abstract

L-band and C-band microwave radar observations can help to measure the properties of snow cover on land by providing in formation about the soil-snow boundary condition. In this theoretical study, the author examines the sensitivities of microwave radar measurements to soil and snow characteristics, and compares a simple model with previously published data. These data show that the thermal insulation provided by snow cover can have a powerful effect on the soil-snow boundary by altering the soil temperature and therefore changing the dielectric contrast

Keywords

backscatter; hydrological techniques; radar cross-sections; radar theory; remote sensing by radar; snow; C-band; L-band; SHF; UHF; dielectric contrast; hydrology; measurement technique; microwave radar; model; radar remote sensing; radar scattering; radar theory; snow cover; snowcover; snowpack; soil-snow boundary; temperature; thermal insulation; L-band; Monitoring; Optical scattering; Optical surface waves; Radar measurements; Radar scattering; Rough surfaces; Snow; Soil; Surface roughness;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2000. Proceedings. IGARSS 2000. IEEE 2000 International

Conference_Location

Honolulu, HI

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6359-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2000.857334

Filename

857334