Drivers of ASCAT C band backscatter variability in the dry snow zone of Antarctica

Fraser, Alexander D.; Nigro, Melissa A.; Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M.; Legresy, Benoit; Inoue, Mana; Cassano, John J.; Kuipers Munneke, Peter; Lenaerts, Jan T. M.; Young, Neal W.; Treverrow, Adam; Van Den Broeke, Michiel; Enomoto, Hiroyuki

doi:10.1017/jog.2016.29

i

Drivers of ASCAT C band backscatter variability in the dry snow zone of Antarctica

2016
By Fraser, Alexander D. ; Nigro, Melissa A. ; Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. ; ...

Details

Journal Title:

Journal of Glaciology
Personal Author:

Fraser, Alexander D. ; Nigro, Melissa A. ; Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M. ; Legresy, Benoit ; Inoue, Mana ; Cassano, John J. ; Kuipers Munneke, Peter ; Lenaerts, Jan T. M. ; Young, Neal W. ; Treverrow, Adam ; Van Den Broeke, Michiel ; Enomoto, Hiroyuki
NOAA Program & Office:

CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
Description:

C band backscatter parameters contain information about the upper snowpack/firn in the dry snow zone. The wide incidence angle diversity of the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) gives unprecedented characterisation of backscatter anisotropy, revealing the backscatter response to climatic forcing. TheA(isotropic component) andM2(bi-sinusoidal azimuth anisotropy) parameters are investigated here, in conjunction with data from atmospheric and snowpack models, to identify the backscatter response to surface forcing parameters (wind speed and persistence, precipitation, surface temperature, density and grain size). The long-term meanAparameter is successfully recreated with a regression using these drivers, indicating strong links between theAparameter and precipitation on long timescales. While the ASCAT time series is too short to determine which factors drive observed trends, factors influencing the seasonal and short timescale variability are revealed. On these timescales,Astrongly responds to the propagation of surface temperature cycles/anomalies downward through the firn, via direct modulation of the dielectric constant. The influence of precipitation onAis small at shorter timescales. TheM2parameter is controlled by wind speed and persistence, through modification of monodirectionally-aligned surface roughness. This variability indicates that throughout much of coastal Antarctica, a microwave ‘snapshot’ is generally not representative of longer-term conditions.
Source:

Journal of Glaciology, 62(231), 170-184
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.29
ISSN:

0022-1430 ; 1727-5652
Format:

pdf
Publisher:

Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Document Type:

Journal Article
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Library
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:0f722ddba471712bfd84917102ec13eba18b4adec239eabfe94bb4710f4f5ffecda44f2072c9403120d00b92734698f2639e55dbb8685040690b088c0e63a3cf
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https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/68489/noaa_68489_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 1.62 MB ]

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