Nordic Snow Radar Experiment

Juha Lemmetyinen, Anna Kontu, Jouni Pulliainen, Juho Vehviläinen, Kimmo Rautiainen, Andreas Wiesmann, Christian Mätzler, Charles Werner, Helmut Rott, Thomas Nagler, Martin Schneebeli, Martin Proksch (+3 others)
2016 Geoscientific Instrumentation Methods and Data Systems Discussions  
The objective of the Nordic Snow Radar Experiment (NoSREx) campaign was to provide a continuous time series of active and passive microwave observations of snow cover in a representative location of the Arctic boreal forest area, covering a whole winter season. The activity was a part of Phase A studies for the ESA Earth Explorer 7 candidate mission CoReH2O (Cold Regions Hydrology High-resolution Observatory). The NoSREx campaign hosted two main microwave instruments; a frequency scanning
more » ... rometer operating on frequencies from X- to Ku band, and a microwave dual-polarization radiometer system operating from X- to W-bands. In situ measurements consisted of manual snow pit measurements at the main test site as well as extensive automated measurements on snow, ground and meteorological parameters. This study provides a summary of the obtained data, detailing measurement protocols for both microwave instruments and in situ reference data. A first analysis of the microwave signatures against snow parameters is given. All data, including the raw data observations, are available through the European Space Agency and the Finnish Meteorological Institute for research purposes. A consolidated dataset of observations, comprising of the key microwave and in situ observations, is provided through the ESA campaign data portal to enable easy access to the data.
doi:10.5194/gi-2015-29 fatcat:kn54c7asnvf5jjsbf3mk3qtjky