Polar sea ice thickness and melt pond fraction measurements with multi-frequency bistatic radar polarimetric and interferometric reflectometry

Abstract

Arctic and Antarctic sea ice covers are in a sharp contrast in terms of characteristics, distributions, and processes with a drastic decrease in the Arctic versus the opposite increase in the Antarctic in a changing climate. In quantifying polar sea ice differences to address the contrasted sea ice behaviors, two key parameters are sea ice thickness and melt pond fraction, which remain challenging to measure extensively in time and in space with a sustainable approach. Here, we present a new paradigm for such measurements using bistatic radar reflectometry, thanks to developments of low-cost receivers to acquire reflected signals from numerous existing transmitter systems operated at multiple frequencies to be replenished and sustained indefinitely into the future. For sea ice thickness measurement to determine ice volume, reflected signals likely come from the bottom ice-water interface avoiding large errors inherent in current altimetry techniques due to uncertainty in free-board height and snow cover. Regarding melt pond faction on sea ice to estimate albedo and insolation, the bistatic reflection can be dominated by melt pond water with permittivity that is one order of magnitude larger compared to that of snow or ice. These are examined by a combination of numerical Kirchhoff (KA) simulator and Numerical Maxwell Model of 3D simulations (NMM3D) to preserve phase and amplitude information and thereby account for both coherent and incoherent effects. Physical insights from the rigorous theory for bistatic radar reflectometry will be valuable to develop future satellite missions to resolve cryospheric science issues concerning the polar sea ice differences.