HR: 1340h
AN: H23D-1150    [Abstracts]
TI: Monitoring Freeze-Thaw States in the Pan-Arctic: Application of Microwave Remote Sensing to Monitoring Hydrologic and Ecological Processes
AU: * McDonald, K C
EM: kyle.mcdonald@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Lab, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Kimball, J S
EM: johnk@ntsg.umt.edu
AF: University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station, 311 Biostation Lane, Polson, MT 59860 United States
AB: The transition of the landscape between predominantly frozen and non-frozen conditions in seasonally frozen environments impacts climate, hydrological, ecological and biogeochemical processes profoundly. Satellite microwave remote sensing is uniquely capable of detecting and monitoring a range of related biophysical processes associated with the measurement of landscape freeze/thaw status. We present the development, physical basis, current techniques and selected hydrological applications of satellite-borne microwave remote sensing of landscape freeze/thaw states for the terrestrial cryosphere. Major landscape hydrological processes embracing the remotely-sensed freeze/thaw signal include timing and spatial dynamics of seasonal snowmelt and associated soil thaw, runoff generation and flooding, ice breakup in large rivers and lakes, and timing and length of vegetation growing seasons and associated productivity and trace gas exchange. Employing both active and passive microwave sensors, we apply a selection of temporal change classification algorithms to examine a variety of hydrologic processes. We investigate contemporaneous and retrospective applications of the QuikSCAT scatterometer, and the SSM/I and SMMR radiometers to this end. Results illustrate the strong correspondence between regional thawing, seasonal ice break up for rivers, and the springtime pulse in river flow. We present the physical principles of microwave sensitivity to landscape freeze/thaw state, recent progress in applying these principles toward satellite remote sensing of freeze/thaw processes over broad regions, and potential for future global monitoring of this significant phenomenon of the global cryosphere. This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, and at the University of Montana, Missoula, under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
DE: 1800 HYDROLOGY
DE: 1860 Runoff and streamflow
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
DE: 0400 Biogeosciences
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting