Dry snow analysis in alpine regions using RADARSAT-2 full polarimetry data. Comparison with in situ measurements

In this paper we describe the benefits of RADARSAT-2 in the analysis of temporal changes in polarimetric parameters linked to the snow cover evolution during the winter season. The presented study took place over an instrumented area in the region of French Alps. The focus is set on the dry snow dep...

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Published in2014 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium pp. 3658 - 3661
Main Authors Dedieu, J.-P, Besic, N., Vasile, G., Mathieu, J., Durand, Y., Gottardi, F.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.07.2014
Subjects
Backscatter
dry snow
Entropy
Ice
polarimetry
Principal component analysis
Remote sensing
Scattering
Snow
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Summary:In this paper we describe the benefits of RADARSAT-2 in the analysis of temporal changes in polarimetric parameters linked to the snow cover evolution during the winter season. The presented study took place over an instrumented area in the region of French Alps. The focus is set on the dry snow depth retrieval, using an original method based on principal component statistical analysis (PCA) of the polarimetric parameters values. The results obtained by this mean are compared with the network of simultaneous snow in situ measurements. The most thought-provoking result is the strong inverse correlation between the snow depth above the ice crust and the entropy, reflected through the very high coefficient of determination R 2 = 0.8439. In order to justify this observation, we propose an appropriate physical hypothesis.
ISSN:2153-6996
2153-7003
DOI:10.1109/IGARSS.2014.6947276