94 GHz radar backscatter characteristics of alpine glacier ice

W. D. Harcourt; D. A. Robertson; D. G. Macfarlane; B. R. Rea; M. Spagnolo

doi:10.1029/2023gl104721

94 GHz radar backscatter characteristics of alpine glacier ice

W. D. Harcourt^*, D. A. Robertson, D. G. Macfarlane, B. R. Rea, M. Spagnolo

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Physics and Astronomy

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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 sensor. 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 Rhônegletscher in Switzerland using the All-Weather Volcano Topography Imaging Sensor (AVTIS2) real-aperture Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave radar. We determine the mean normalized radar cross section 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
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2023gl104721
Publication status	Published - 27 Oct 2023

Keywords

Alpine glacier
Radar backscatter
Surface roughness
Point clouds
Millimeter‐wave radar

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10.1029/2023gl104721Licence: CC BY

Harcourt_2023_GRL_94GHz_CCBY
Copyright © 2023. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Final published version, 4.23 MBLicence: CC BY

94 GHz Radar Backscatter Characteristics of Alpine Glacier Ice
Harcourt, W. D. (Creator), Robertson, D. (Creator), Macfarlane, D. G. (Creator), Rea , B. R. (Creator) & Spagnolo, M. (Creator), Zenodo, 2023
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8044935
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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 sensor. 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 Rh{\^o}negletscher in Switzerland using the All-Weather Volcano Topography Imaging Sensor (AVTIS2) real-aperture Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave radar. We determine the mean normalized radar cross section 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.",

keywords = "Alpine glacier, Radar backscatter, Surface roughness, Point clouds, Millimeter‐wave radar",

author = "Harcourt, {W. D.} and Robertson, {D. A.} and Macfarlane, {D. G.} and Rea, {B. R.} and M. Spagnolo",

note = "Funding: William D. Harcourt would like to thank PhD studentship funding from SAGES and EPSRC (Grant EP/R513337/1). Funding for this study was obtained from the Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) Small Grant Scheme.",

year = "2023",

month = oct,

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language = "English",

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journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

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AU - Harcourt, W. D.

AU - Robertson, D. A.

AU - Macfarlane, D. G.

AU - Rea, B. R.

AU - Spagnolo, M.

N1 - Funding: William D. Harcourt would like to thank PhD studentship funding from SAGES and EPSRC (Grant EP/R513337/1). Funding for this study was obtained from the Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) Small Grant Scheme.

PY - 2023/10/27

Y1 - 2023/10/27

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 sensor. 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 Rhônegletscher in Switzerland using the All-Weather Volcano Topography Imaging Sensor (AVTIS2) real-aperture Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave radar. We determine the mean normalized radar cross section 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.

AB - Measuring the radar backscatter characteristics of glacier ice at different frequencies and incidence angles is fundamental to predicting the glacier mapping performance of a sensor. 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 Rhônegletscher in Switzerland using the All-Weather Volcano Topography Imaging Sensor (AVTIS2) real-aperture Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave radar. We determine the mean normalized radar cross section 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.

KW - Alpine glacier

KW - Radar backscatter

KW - Surface roughness

KW - Point clouds

KW - Millimeter‐wave radar

U2 - 10.1029/2023gl104721

DO - 10.1029/2023gl104721

M3 - Article

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 50

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 21

M1 - e2023GL104721

ER -

94 GHz radar backscatter characteristics of alpine glacier ice

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94 GHz Radar Backscatter Characteristics of Alpine Glacier Ice

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