Articles | Volume 7, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1741-2013
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1741-2013
Research article
 | 
14 Nov 2013
Research article |  | 14 Nov 2013

Characterization of L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter from floating and grounded thermokarst lake ice in Arctic Alaska

M. Engram, K. W. Anthony, F. J. Meyer, and G. Grosse

Abstract. Radar remote sensing is a well-established method to discriminate lakes retaining liquid-phase water beneath winter ice cover from those that do not. L-band (23.6 cm wavelength) airborne radar showed great promise in the 1970s, but spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) studies have focused on C-band (5.6 cm) SAR to classify lake ice with no further attention to L-band SAR for this purpose. Here, we examined calibrated L-band single- and quadrature-polarized SAR returns from floating and grounded lake ice in two regions of Alaska: the northern Seward Peninsula (NSP) where methane ebullition is common in lakes and the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) where ebullition is relatively rare. We found average backscatter intensities of −13 dB and −16 dB for late winter floating ice on the NSP and ACP, respectively, and −19 dB for grounded ice in both regions. Polarimetric analysis revealed that the mechanism of L-band SAR backscatter from floating ice is primarily roughness at the ice–water interface. L-band SAR showed less contrast between floating and grounded lake ice than C-band; however, since L-band is sensitive to ebullition bubbles trapped by lake ice (bubbles increase backscatter), this study helps elucidate potential confounding factors of grounded ice in methane studies using SAR.

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