Detection of snow surface roughness and hoar at Summit, Greenland, using RADARSAT data

The RASCALS Radiation, Snow Characteristics and Albedo at Summit campaign was carried out at the Greenland Summit camp research station during June–July 2010. The collection of surface roughness, dielectric constant, and density profiles values of snow were gathered. Polarimetric interferometry of RADARSAT-2 quad pol fine beam images is used to study the snow surface anisotropy at Summit, Greenland. Various methods of determining the polarimetric coherence are tested and the results are compared with the in situ surface roughness results, which show a clear anisotropy varying with time. In addition, backscattering modelling is used to check the fraction of the surface backscattering. The circularly polarized coherence and backscattering coefficient can be used for surface roughness variation and surface hoar formation detection.