Remote Sensing of Sea Ice Using Co- and Cross-Polarization Measurements with Shipborne Radar

摘要

The ability of cross-polarized X-band radar to differentiate different ice states, including new ice, nilas, young ice (including grey ice and grey-white ice), and thin first-year ice, is investigated. Cross-polarized X-band radar is employed on the Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Henry Larsen, which is capable of measuring the depolarization characteristics of sea ice. The CCGS Henry Larsen recorded several hours of raw radar data (including the radar data from several ice states) off the Northeast Coast of Newfoundland during several days in March 2012. On the basis of the collected data, the depolarization characteristics of ice states are analyzed for the grazing angles less than 3 z. The results show that the depolarized backscattered wave is stronger when the ice is covered with snow and snow ridges and when the ice floes are smaller.