Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2854
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2854
18 Sep 2024
 | 18 Sep 2024

Exploring microwave penetration into snow on Antarctic summer sea ice along CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 (CRYO2ICE) orbit from multi-frequency air- and spaceborne altimetry

Renée M. Fredensborg Hansen, Henriette Skourup, Eero Rinne, Arttu Jutila, Isobel R. Lawrence, Andrew Shepherd, Knut V. Høyland, Jilu Li, Fernando Rodriguez-Morales, Sebastian B. Simonsen, Jeremy Wilkinson, Gaelle Veyssiere, Donghui Yi, René Forsberg, and Taniâ G. D. Casal

Abstract. The recent alignment of CryoSat-2 to maximise orbital coincidence with the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) over the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in July 2022, known as the CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 (CRYO2ICE), provided an opportunity to ground truth these satellites over the same land and sea ice. This was achieved through a simultaneous airborne campaign which under-flew the near-coincident CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 orbits in December 2022 and carried, amongst other instrumentation, Ka-, Ku-, C/S-band radars and a scanning near-infrared lidar. This campaign resulted in the first multi-frequency radar evaluation of snow penetration over sea ice along near-coincident orbits. The airborne observations (at footprints of 5 m) revealed limited penetration of the snow pack at both Ka- and Ku-band, with the primary scattering occurring either at the air-snow interface or inside the snowpack for both frequencies. On average, the Ka- and Ku-band scattering interface was 0.2 to 0.3 m above that for C/S-band's primary scatter, where the average snow depth using C/S-band reached around 0.5 ± 0.05 m depending on re-trackers and combinations used. Interestingly, when the primary peak in the received signal occurs within the snowpack or at the air-snow interface, some scatter contributions are still present from the sea-ice interface at Ku-band. This suggests a potential for snow depth to be derived from Ku-band signals alone by co-identifying these respective peaks in the waveform. Furthermore, it contradicts the assumption of a single scattering interface primarily contributing to the backscatter at Ku-band on airborne scales. The CRYO2ICE snow depths achieved along the orbit were on average 0.34 m, which are within 0.01 m from passive-microwave-derived observations and 0.12 m from model-based estimates. Comparison with airborne snow depths at 25-km segments showed correlations of 0.51–0.53, a bias of 0.03 m and root-mean-square-deviation of 0.08 m when using the airborne lidar scanner as air–snow interface and C/S-band at maximum amplitude at snow–ice interface. To understand how comparisons across ground, air and space shall be conducted, especially in preparation for the upcoming dual-frequency radar altimeter mission Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL), it is critical that we investigate the impact of different scattering mechanisms at varying frequencies, for diverging viewing geometries considering dissimilar spatial and range resolutions.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this paper. While Copernicus Publications makes every effort to include appropriate place names, the final responsibility lies with the authors. Views expressed in the text are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.
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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

02 Oct 2025
Multi-frequency altimetry snow depth estimates over heterogeneous snow-covered Antarctic summer sea ice – Part 1: C∕S-, Ku-, and Ka-band airborne observations
Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, Henriette Skourup, Eero Rinne, Arttu Jutila, Isobel R. Lawrence, Andrew Shepherd, Knut Vilhelm Høyland, Jilu Li, Fernando Rodriguez-Morales, Sebastian Bjerregaaard Simonsen, Jeremy Wilkinson, Gaelle Veyssiere, Donghui Yi, René Forsberg, and Taniâ Gil Duarte Casal
The Cryosphere, 19, 4167–4192, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4167-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4167-2025, 2025
Short summary
Renée M. Fredensborg Hansen, Henriette Skourup, Eero Rinne, Arttu Jutila, Isobel R. Lawrence, Andrew Shepherd, Knut V. Høyland, Jilu Li, Fernando Rodriguez-Morales, Sebastian B. Simonsen, Jeremy Wilkinson, Gaelle Veyssiere, Donghui Yi, René Forsberg, and Taniâ G. D. Casal

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-2854', Anonymous Referee #1, 14 Oct 2024
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, 01 Nov 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-2854', Anonymous Referee #2, 21 Oct 2024
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, 01 Nov 2024
  • AC3: 'Combined responses to both reviewers and overview of most important edits based on reviewer comments', Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, 01 Nov 2024
  • AC4: 'Final response on egusphere-2024-2854', Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, 20 Nov 2024

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-2854', Anonymous Referee #1, 14 Oct 2024
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, 01 Nov 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-2854', Anonymous Referee #2, 21 Oct 2024
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, 01 Nov 2024
  • AC3: 'Combined responses to both reviewers and overview of most important edits based on reviewer comments', Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, 01 Nov 2024
  • AC4: 'Final response on egusphere-2024-2854', Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, 20 Nov 2024

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
ED: Reconsider after major revisions (further review by editor and referees) (20 Nov 2024) by Vishnu Nandan
AR by Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen on behalf of the Authors (20 Nov 2024)
EF by Natascha Töpfer (04 Dec 2024)  Manuscript   Author's response   Author's tracked changes 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (05 Dec 2024) by Vishnu Nandan
RR by John Yackel (14 Dec 2024)
RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (10 Apr 2025)
ED: Reconsider after major revisions (further review by editor and referees) (10 Apr 2025) by Vishnu Nandan
AR by Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen on behalf of the Authors (22 May 2025)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (05 Jun 2025) by Vishnu Nandan
RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (07 Jun 2025)
ED: Publish as is (07 Jun 2025) by Vishnu Nandan
AR by Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen on behalf of the Authors (01 Jul 2025)

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

02 Oct 2025
Multi-frequency altimetry snow depth estimates over heterogeneous snow-covered Antarctic summer sea ice – Part 1: C∕S-, Ku-, and Ka-band airborne observations
Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, Henriette Skourup, Eero Rinne, Arttu Jutila, Isobel R. Lawrence, Andrew Shepherd, Knut Vilhelm Høyland, Jilu Li, Fernando Rodriguez-Morales, Sebastian Bjerregaaard Simonsen, Jeremy Wilkinson, Gaelle Veyssiere, Donghui Yi, René Forsberg, and Taniâ Gil Duarte Casal
The Cryosphere, 19, 4167–4192, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4167-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4167-2025, 2025
Short summary
Renée M. Fredensborg Hansen, Henriette Skourup, Eero Rinne, Arttu Jutila, Isobel R. Lawrence, Andrew Shepherd, Knut V. Høyland, Jilu Li, Fernando Rodriguez-Morales, Sebastian B. Simonsen, Jeremy Wilkinson, Gaelle Veyssiere, Donghui Yi, René Forsberg, and Taniâ G. D. Casal

Data sets

Airborne ellipsoidal elevations and derived snow depths from Ka-, Ku-, C/S-band and lidar observations along CRYO2ICEANT22 under-flight (13 December 2022) along co-located CRYO2ICE (CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2) observations of snow depth using CryoTEMPO, FF-SAR and ESA-E CryoSat-2 processing chains Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, Henriette Skourup, Isobel Lawrence, Jilu Li, Fernando Rodriguez-Morales, and Donghui Yi https://doi.org/10.11583/DTU.26732227

Model code and software

CRYO2ICEANT2022 Antarctic Summer Sea Ice Under-Flight using Multi-Frequency Airborne Altimetry Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13749342

Renée M. Fredensborg Hansen, Henriette Skourup, Eero Rinne, Arttu Jutila, Isobel R. Lawrence, Andrew Shepherd, Knut V. Høyland, Jilu Li, Fernando Rodriguez-Morales, Sebastian B. Simonsen, Jeremy Wilkinson, Gaelle Veyssiere, Donghui Yi, René Forsberg, and Taniâ G. D. Casal

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Short summary
In December 2022, an airborne campaign collected unprecedented coincident multi-frequency radar and lidar data over sea ice along a CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 (CRYO2ICE) orbit in the Weddell Sea useful for evaluating microwave penetration. We found limited snow penetration at Ka- and Ku-bands, with significant contributions from the air-snow interface, contradicting traditional assumptions. These findings challenge current methods for comparing air- and spaceborne altimeter estimates of sea ice.
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