L-BAND RADIOMETRY

CRYOSPHERIC ACTIVITIES

M. Hallikainen

1. ONGOING ACTIVITIES

Meltpond2000: EOS Aqua Sea Ice Validation Program

Background: Melt ponds are currently the largest single source of error in the determination of Arctic sea ice concentrations with satellite passive microwave sensors
Main Objective: Quantifying the errors incurred by the AMSR-E sea ice algorithms resulting from the presence of melt ponds
Secondary Objective: To develop a microwave capability to discriminate between melt ponds and seawater using low-frequency microwave radiometers
Flight Schedule: Carried out between June 25 and July 6, 2000 from Thule, Greenland
Areas: Baffin Bay and Canadian Arctic
Data Collection: Five 8-hour flights

Table 1. Meltpond2000 participants. _____________________________________________________________________________

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes
Donald J. Cavalieri Edward J. Kim Thorsten Markus

NOAA/Environmental Technology Laboratory
Albin J. Gasiewski Michael McCormick Karin Schuler Taneil Uttal

Naval Air Warfare Center
Paul Barker           Frank Cox           Miles Ervin          William Heaton     Neal C. Mars Jr.
Aaron McAtee      Leslie Miles          Lynn Mosterd     Patrick Murphy    William Rustmann
John Sandifer         Andrew Salcido   Michael Silah       Kurt Unangst       Glenn W. Wallace
William C. Walsh

National/Navy Ice Center
Amy VanBuskirk
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Table 2. NAWC P-3 Sensors for Meltpond2000. _____________________________________________________________________________

NOAA/ETL Polarimetric Scanning Radiometers (PSR):

PSR-A(v, h, U, and V): 10.7, 18.7, 37.0, and 89.0 GHz

PSR-C(v, h, U, and V): 5.8-6.2, 6.3-6.7, 6.8-7.1, and 7.2-7.5 GHz

NOAA/ETL Scanning Low Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SLFMR): 1.4 GHz (v-pol.)

NOAA/ETL Infrared Scanners operate in the range 9.6-11 ?m and are boresited with each PSR scanhead

NASA GSFC Video and digital cameras
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Table 3. Meltpond2000 Flight Summary. _____________________________________________________________________________

Date	Region	Altitude	Sensors
June 26	Baffin Bay	19,000 ft	PSR-A, SLFMR, IR
June 27	Baffin Bay	4,500 ft	PSR-A, SLFMR, IR
June 29	V. Melville Sd Ice Camp	5,500 ft 1,000 ft	PSR-A, SLFMR, IR PSR-A, SLFMR, IR
June 30	V. Melville Sd. Ice Camp	15,000 ft 1,000 ft	PSR-C, SLFMR, IR PSR-C, SLFMR, IR
July 5	Baffin Bay	21,000 ft	PSR-C, SLFMR, IR

Coincident Data: Acquired with SSM/I, Radarsat, Landsat ETM+, Terra MODIS
Surface Measurements: By Canadian scientists as part of their study of the morphological and radiative properties of melt ponds on first-year sea ice.
The Canadian Research Program: Collaborative-Interdisciplinary Cryospheric Experiment (C-ICE) in the Canadian Archipelago near Resolute Bay
Status: "A preliminary examination of the aircraft microwave and satellite data sets was undertaken and all indications are that the mission was a success."

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2. PLANNED ACTIVITIES

2.1. Climate Research Branch, Meteorological Service of

Canada

Objective: To investigate the microwave response to the lake ice characteristics as well as the snow cover over the ice
Activity: Airborne campaign
Schedule: Winter 2000-2001
Radiometer System: 1.4, 6.9, 19.35, 37 and 85 GHz
Location: Lake Simcoe located north of Toronto
Surface Measurements: Measurements of lake ice properties and snow cover characteristics along the flight lines
Status: Technical details of campaign under planning.

2.2. Danish Center for Remote Center, Technical University

of Denmark

Objective: To investigate the L-band response to sea ice in the Greenland waters with an airborne campaign
Sensor: TUD Polarimetric L-band radiometer (+ others ?)
Schedule: Within 2-3 years
Status: Trying to establish funding

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2.3. Helsinki University of Technology

Objective: To investigate the microwave response to cryospheric target characteristics: Sea ice (Baltic Sea), soil state (frozen/thawed) and boreal forest, and the mixed pixel problem (several land-cover categories within a pixel)
Activity: Airborne campaign and modelling
Sensors: HUT-2D (1.4 GHz) and HUTRAD (6.8, 10.65, 18.7, 23.8, 36.5 (polarimetric), and 94 GHz)
Schedule: Earliest campaign possibility winter 2001-2002
Status: Preparation of a proposal to a national funding agency to be started in December. Target list to be finalised.

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2.4. Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center

Presently: SSMI is used frequently in current projects, especially for sea-ice concentration and for ice motion mapping

Interest: To investigate the use of L-band as an additional channel for these parameters.

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