HR: 1340h
AN: C33C-0358    [Abstracts]
TI: Relating SAR Backscatter Variations to Ice Sheet Surface Conditions Along the US ITASE Traverse
AU: * Stearns, L
EM: leigh.stearns@maine.edu
AF: Climate Change Institute, 303 BGSC University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469
AU: Hamilton, G
EM: gordon.hamilton@maine.edu
AF: Climate Change Institute, 303 BGSC University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469
AB: Radar backscatter over Antarctica varies according to the physical properties of the near surface, such as surface roughness, grain size, density, stratigraphy and moisture content. These physical properties are intrinsically linked to larger scale properties including ice divide location, topography, accumulation rate, ice flow and surface melt patterns. Comparing brightness variations in radar imagery with field observations of surface properties enables a fuller understanding of backscatter patterns and makes SAR mosaics powerful tools for exploring ice sheet processes and behavior. In this study, the RADARSAT-1 Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMP) mosaic and recent ERS ASAR imagery will be used. Detailed surface topography maps and shallow radar profiles along the >5,000 km of US ITASE traverse routes in West Antarctica are used to study causes of radar backscatter variations. A series of isolated ice cores, connected to one another by isochronous horizons tracked with ground penetrating radar, yield accumulation rates along the traverse routes. Here, we correlate satellite radar brightness variation with surface topography, accumulation rate and density along the ground traverses, then proceed to infer the surface characteristics of other regions of the ice sheet.
DE: 9310 Antarctica
DE: 1827 Glaciology (1863)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting