Polarimetric characteristics of floating ice derived from the SMOS mission
Abstract
Even though, major objectives for ESA SMOS mission are to provide global coverage of soil moisture (SM) observations over land and sea surface salinity over oceans, SMOS L-band brightness temperature data are a valuable source of information also for cryospheric studies, at high latitude in the presence of sea ice or drifting icebergs. In the current study, area of interest is limited to the Southern Hemisphere, with particular interest in two separate sets of 8-12 SMOS DGG pixels drifting along the Antarctic coast. These two objects, characterised by an excess in brightness temperature of approximately 30K, when compared to surrounding open water, were identified as icebergs. Additional region of interest is the sharp boundary between open water and thin ice, which for the first Stokes parameter belongs to the same brightness temperature regime as observed icebergs. The study makes us of full polarisation SMOS brightness temperature data, essential for detailed investigation of polarimetric characteristics. Measurements, transformed from the antenna frame to the Earth`s frame, are compared with reconstructed synthetic Tb. Discussion concentrates on the temporal evolution of Tbv and Tbh and first Stokes parameter, when the melting processes were observed. The final stage of analysis leads to the description of dielectric properties of observed areas.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMOS21E1819S
- Keywords:
-
- 0758 CRYOSPHERE / Remote sensing;
- 1800 HYDROLOGY;
- 3339 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES / Ocean/atmosphere interactions