Premium
Measuring Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Using Spaceborne GNSS Reflectometry From TechDemoSat‐1
Author(s) -
Li Weiqiang,
Cardellach Estel,
Fabra Fran,
Ribó Serni,
Rius Antonio
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl086477
Subject(s) - gnss applications , reflectometry , greenland ice sheet , remote sensing , geology , satellite , satellite system , ice sheet , geodesy , computer science , geomorphology , physics , astronomy , time domain , computer vision
The capability of spaceborne Global Navigation Satellite System‐reflectometry (GNSS‐R) for Greenland ice sheet melt detection is investigated using the TechDemoSat‐1 satellite (TDS‐1) data. The melt detection is based on the sensitivity of GNSS‐R signal to the presence of liquid water in snow pack. Statistical analysis during the 2018 melt season shows melt detection using GNSS‐R is possible with an agreement of 90% comparing to the microwave radiometer (MWR) data. In 37% of the cases GNSS‐R detects melting when MWR does not. The inconsistency observed between GNSS‐R and MWR is mainly due to the different features of the two observation concepts and the limitations of currently available GNSS‐R data. Furthermore, the large penetration depth of the GNSS signal can potentially provide complementary information on melt occurrence in ice sheet subsurface. These results show the potential of future GNSS‐R missions for ice sheet melt detection.