94 GHz Radar Backscatter Characteristics of Alpine Glacier Ice

William D. Harcourt; Duncan A.  Robertson; David G.  Macfarlane; Brice R. Rea; Matteo Spagnolo

doi:10.1029/2023GL104721

94 GHz Radar Backscatter Characteristics of Alpine Glacier Ice

William D. Harcourt^* (Corresponding Author), Duncan A. Robertson , David G. Macfarlane , Brice R. Rea, Matteo Spagnolo

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of St Andrews

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Measuring the radar backscatter characteristics of glacier ice at different frequencies and incidence angles is fundamental to predicting the glacier mapping performance of a sen16 sor. However, such measurements at 94 GHz do not exist. To address this knowledge gap, we collected 94 GHz radar backscatter data from the surface of Rhˆonegletscher in Switzerland using the AVTIS2 real-aperture Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar. We determine the mean normalised radar cross section (σ0mean) to be -9.9 dB. The distribution closely follows a log-normal distribution with a high goodness of fit (R2=0.99) which suggests that radar backscatter is diffuse and driven by surface roughness. Further, we quantified the uncertainty of AVTIS2 3D point clouds to be 1.30-3.72 m, which is smaller than other ground-based glacier surface mapping radars. These results demonstrate that glacier surfaces are an efficient scattering target at 94 GHz, hence demonstrating the suitability of millimeter-wave radar for glacier monitoring

Original language	English
Article number	e2023GL104721
Number of pages	9
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	50
Issue number	21
Early online date	27 Oct 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL104721
Publication status	Published - 16 Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgments
William D. Harcourt would like to thank PhD studentship funding from SAGES and EP281 SRC (grant number: EP/R513337/1). Funding for this study was obtained from the Scot282 tish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) Small Grant Scheme. We would like to thank the staff at the Rhˆonegletscher Eisgrotte Cafe for enabling en284 trance to the field site and supporting the field activities, as well as the VAW Glaciol285 ogy Group and Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland groups for providing aerial photogram metry data over Rhˆonegletscher. Thanks also to Josu´e Gehring, Alexis Berne and Etienne Vignon for assisting with collection and delivery of our equipment at Ecole Polytechnique D´ed´erale de Lausanne (EPFL).

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Cite this

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title = "94 GHz Radar Backscatter Characteristics of Alpine Glacier Ice",

abstract = "Measuring the radar backscatter characteristics of glacier ice at different frequencies and incidence angles is fundamental to predicting the glacier mapping performance of a sen16 sor. However, such measurements at 94 GHz do not exist. To address this knowledge gap, we collected 94 GHz radar backscatter data from the surface of Rhˆonegletscher in Switzerland using the AVTIS2 real-aperture Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar. We determine the mean normalised radar cross section (σ0mean) to be -9.9 dB. The distribution closely follows a log-normal distribution with a high goodness of fit (R2=0.99) which suggests that radar backscatter is diffuse and driven by surface roughness. Further, we quantified the uncertainty of AVTIS2 3D point clouds to be 1.30-3.72 m, which is smaller than other ground-based glacier surface mapping radars. These results demonstrate that glacier surfaces are an efficient scattering target at 94 GHz, hence demonstrating the suitability of millimeter-wave radar for glacier monitoring",

author = "Harcourt, {William D.} and Robertson, {Duncan A.} and Macfarlane, {David G.} and Rea, {Brice R.} and Matteo Spagnolo",

note = "Acknowledgments William D. Harcourt would like to thank PhD studentship funding from SAGES and EP281 SRC (grant number: EP/R513337/1). Funding for this study was obtained from the Scot282 tish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) Small Grant Scheme. We would like to thank the staff at the Rhˆonegletscher Eisgrotte Cafe for enabling en284 trance to the field site and supporting the field activities, as well as the VAW Glaciol285 ogy Group and Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland groups for providing aerial photogram metry data over Rhˆonegletscher. Thanks also to Josu´e Gehring, Alexis Berne and Etienne Vignon for assisting with collection and delivery of our equipment at Ecole Polytechnique D´ed´erale de Lausanne (EPFL).",

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N2 - Measuring the radar backscatter characteristics of glacier ice at different frequencies and incidence angles is fundamental to predicting the glacier mapping performance of a sen16 sor. However, such measurements at 94 GHz do not exist. To address this knowledge gap, we collected 94 GHz radar backscatter data from the surface of Rhˆonegletscher in Switzerland using the AVTIS2 real-aperture Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar. We determine the mean normalised radar cross section (σ0mean) to be -9.9 dB. The distribution closely follows a log-normal distribution with a high goodness of fit (R2=0.99) which suggests that radar backscatter is diffuse and driven by surface roughness. Further, we quantified the uncertainty of AVTIS2 3D point clouds to be 1.30-3.72 m, which is smaller than other ground-based glacier surface mapping radars. These results demonstrate that glacier surfaces are an efficient scattering target at 94 GHz, hence demonstrating the suitability of millimeter-wave radar for glacier monitoring

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94 GHz Radar Backscatter Characteristics of Alpine Glacier Ice

Abstract

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