C005-0007
Snowpack remote sensing using Ultra-Wideband Software-Defined Radiometer (UWBRAD) and the Wideband Autocorrelation Radiometer (WiBAR)

Monday, 7 December 2020
Poster
Roger D De Roo1, Maryam Salim2, Mark Andrews3,4, Joel T Johnson4 and Kamal Sarabandi2, (1)University of Michigan-AOSS, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (2)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (3)Fairbanks, AK, United States, (4)Ohio State University Main Campus, Department of Electrical and Computer Enginneering, Columbus, OH, United States
Abstract:
Climate change can affect the availability and variability of water resources in many regions. The seasonal snowpack is one of the important sources of water for many parts of the globe. Remote sensing of the snowpack’s brightness temperature, thickness and snow water equivalent (SWE) is critical for the long-term study of statistical changes of the snowpack parameters. The development of advanced radiometric sensors capable of accurately measuring the brightness temperature and snowpack thickness is needed for accomplishing this task.

Microwave radiometry provides a means for measuring the microwave emission from a scene of snow and ice. When measured at long wavelengths and over a wide frequency band, scattering is minimized but coherent effects within the slab geometry are accentuated. Instruments that can measure the spacing between frequencies of constructive and destructive interference of the emission from the soil under the snow can reveal the microwave travel time through the snow, and thus the snow depth. Such instruments are exemplified by the 0.5-2.0GHz Ultra-Wideband Software-Defined Radiometer (UWBRAD) and the 1.0-2.0GHz Wideband Autocorrelation Radiometer (WiBAR). Unlike the scatter darkening approach to the passive microwave remote sensing of snow depth (as used with 19-37 GHz brightness temperature measurements), this technique uses a direct method to remotely measure the propagation time delay of a microwave emission from the layer of snow and thus the thickness of the layer can be calculated from the measured time delay.

The presentation reports a time series of measurements of the snowpack by UWBRAD and WiBAR. We made measurements with the aim to recover the microwave travel time for different thicknesses and measuring the brightness temperature of the snow layer. UWBRAD and WiBAR were deployed in Keweenaw Research Center (KRC) from February to April 2020 to demonstrate these techniques. Results on snowpack brightness temperature and thickness measurements will be presented and discussed.

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