Retrieval of ice thickness distribution in the seasonal ice zone from L–band SAR

Airborne polarimetric and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (Pi-SAR) observation, conducted in the southern Sea of Okhotsk in February 2005, provided the opportunity to validate the retrieval of ice thickness distribution. In conjunction with the airborne SAR observation, in-situ ice thickness and ice- surface roughness measurements were carried out in the same area with ship-borne electromagnetic (EM) inductive sounding and supersonic profiling, respectively. Based on the analyzed results of data acquired in this experiment, this paper examine the possibility of ice thickness retrieval from the L-band SAR backscattering data in the seasonal ice zone (SIZ).