Monitoring of Terrestrial Hydrology at High Latitudes with Scatterometer Data

The mission of this chapter is to provide insight into the capabilities of scatterometer data for climate change relevant monitoring at high latitudes of the terrestrial hydrosphere (excluding large ice caps). Scatterometer are active microwave instruments. Spaceborne sensors have been developed for operational ocean wind monitoring but they have also been proven of high value for applications over land area within especially the last decade (Wagner et al., 2007). The applications cover a wide range of subjects from snowmelt to phenology. What all have in common is the focus on monitoring of dynamic processes.