Ice volume characterization using long-wavelength airborne PolSAR data

In recent years an increased interest arose in using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to study and monitor land ice for glaciological applications and climate change research. At long wavelengths, SAR systems can penetrate into glacier ice for several tens to hundreds of meters. This makes them sensitive to near-surface as well as deeper ice volume features. This paper investigates the performance of a volume scattering component, in the course of an electromagnetic (e.m.) model development, to relate Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) signatures to glacier facie. Indeed, PolSAR ice signatures are still poorly understood, including the importance of scattering from the glacier ice volume and its dependency on frequency and incidence angle. A comparison is performed with airborne Pol-SAR data at L- and P-band collected by DLR´s E-SAR system over the Austfonna ice cap in Svalbard, Norway, within the ICESAR campaign.