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ISSN 2070-7401 (Print), ISSN 2411-0280 (Online)
Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa
CURRENT PROBLEMS IN REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH FROM SPACE

  

Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2025, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 217-232

Features of quasi-specular reflection of microwave radio waves by sea ice according to bistatic remote sensing data in the L-band

D.A. Kovaldov 1 , Yu.A. Titchenko 1 , V.Yu. Karaev 1 , M.A. Panfilova 1 
1 Institute of Applied Physics RAS, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Accepted: 03.02.2025
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2025-22-2-217-232
The construction of an empirical model of the first-year sea ice scattering pattern in the L-band using a bistatic sensing scheme is discussed. The TDS-1 satellite (TechDemoSat-1), which was in low Earth orbit, was used as a receiver of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal reflected by the ice cover. The bistatic sensing method based on the use of the reflected GNSS signal is also called GNSS-Reflectometry (GNSS-R). To determine the scattering pattern of ice cover, an algorithm using Doppler spectrum (DS) of the reflected signal is employed. DS of the reflected signal in the GNSS-R scheme is formed due to the “spread” of the projection value of the receiver’s movement velocity caused by the dispersion of the slopes of the reflecting surface. For high-orbit satellites, it can be assumed that the incident GNSS radiation in the reflection region has a flat front; therefore, only the central frequency of DS shift depends on the transmitter velocity. The width of DS depends on the receiver speed and the dispersion of the reflecting surface slopes. The Sea of Okhotsk was chosen as a test area from February to March 2017. During this time interval, a stable ice cover was present north of Sakhalin Island at subzero air temperatures. Ice cover parameters were determined using ice concentration maps reconstructed from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) data. Ice cover maps indicating thickness and type of sea ice (nilas, gray ice, young ice, etc.) provided by Planeta Research Center were also used as well as images of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) installed on the Aqua satellite (EOS PM-1). The data array for the period under consideration was processed and the scattering diagram of sea ice in the L-band was compared with the scattering diagrams in the Ku- and Ka-bands constructed using the data of the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) installed on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite. The results obtained showed that the width of the scattering diagram for sea ice in the L-band is wider than in the Ku- and Ka-bands.
Keywords: GNSS, Sea of Okhotsk, quasi-specular reflection, L-band, scatter pattern, sea ice remote sensing, TDS-1
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