Franke, Steven; Helm, Veit; Hames, Oceane; Haas, Christian (2025): Snow depth and snow-base backscatter intensity from AWI's airborne UWBM quad-polarized radar over Atka Bay (December 2022; ANTSI Project) [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.987055
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Published: 2025-11-03 • DOI registered: 2025-11-17
Abstract:
This dataset contains snow depth and snow-base backscatter intensity for four polarizations (HH, VH, VV, HV) derived from airborne radar data acquired using the quad-polarized AWI ultra-wideband microwave radar (UWBM) during the Antarctic season of 2022/23 (December 5th, 2022). The profiles extend across Atka Bay's snow-covered landfast sea ice in western Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. UWBM data was acquired to study snow drifts around icebergs and their radar signatures with a quad-polarized high-resolution radar system. The snow depth is defined as the snow between the snow-ice interface or the snow-flooded snow (slush or brine-wetted snow) interface.
Keyword(s):
Related to:
Haas, Christian; Hames, Oceane; Helm, Veit; Franke, Steven; Jutila, Arttu (2025): ANT 2022/23: AWI airborne ultra-wideband microwave radar data over Atka Bay's iceberg-laden landfast sea ice, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica (ANTSI Project) [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.981151
Additional metadata:
O2A Registry: Metadata for radar system Ultra -wideband microwave snow radar at current version. Alfred Wegener Institut Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, hdl:10013/sensor.4c8fd7e7-f49c-48f0-9595-8aff8c4d2112
Project(s):
Sea Ice Physics @ AWI (AWI_SeaIce)
Funding:
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven (AWI), grant/award no. AWI_PA_02135: ANTSI - Antarctic Sea Ice: Thickness, Melt Ponding, and Ice Shelf Interaction
Coverage:
Median Latitude: -70.617638 * Median Longitude: -7.854691 * South-bound Latitude: -70.679911 * West-bound Longitude: -8.137098 * North-bound Latitude: -70.539430 * East-bound Longitude: -7.485521
Date/Time Start: 2022-12-05T09:07:24 * Date/Time End: 2022-12-05T15:44:23
Event(s):
P5_238_ANTSI_2022_2212051101 * Latitude Start: -70.658992 * Longitude Start: -8.287334 * Latitude End: -70.659202 * Longitude End: -8.287413 * Date/Time Start: 2022-12-05T09:07:24 * Date/Time End: 2022-12-05T15:44:23 * Campaign: P5-238_ANTSI_2022 (ANTSI, MEP, Kottas-Aero) * Basis: POLAR 5 * Method/Device: Aircraft (AC)
Comment:
Project: ANTSI (ANTarctic Sea Ice and platelet ice survey)
Region: Atka Bay's landfast sea ice, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica
UWBM Radar Data Owner/Correspondence:
Christian Haas (Alfred Wegener Institut Bremerhaven, Germany), Contact: christian.haas@awi.de
Veit Helm (Alfred Wegener Institut Bremerhaven, Germany), Contact: veit.helm@awi.de
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The tab-delimited file contains (1) snow depths over Atka Bay's landfast sea ice, (2) the backscatter intensity of the snow-base interface for all four polarizations (HH, VH, VV, HV), and (3) the ratio of snow-base interface backscatter intensity of VV/HV and HH/VH. Since the UWBM data were acquired over sea ice with areas of potential flooding and superimposed brine-wetted snow layer development due to a critical snow load, we specifically define our snow column thickness as fresh, non-saline and non brine-wetted snow thickness. The fresh-snow depth represents either the interface between snow and ice or the interface between fresh snow and a two-layer package consisting of flooded snow (i.e., slush) and brine-wetted snow above.
Parameter(s):
| # | Name | Short Name | Unit | Principal Investigator | Method/Device | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Event label | Event | Franke, Steven | |||
| 2 | Profile ID | Profile ID | Franke, Steven | |||
| 3 | Trace Number | Trace | Franke, Steven | |||
| 4 | LONGITUDE | Longitude | Franke, Steven | Geocode | ||
| 5 | LATITUDE | Latitude | Franke, Steven | Geocode | ||
| 6 | Snow depth | Snow depth | m | Franke, Steven | ||
| 7 | Echo backscatter | Backsc | dB | Franke, Steven | HH polarization | |
| 8 | Echo backscatter | Backsc | dB | Franke, Steven | VH polarization | |
| 9 | Echo backscatter | Backsc | dB | Franke, Steven | VV polarization | |
| 10 | Echo backscatter | Backsc | dB | Franke, Steven | HV polarization | |
| 11 | Backscatter intensity ratio, snow-base interface, VV/HV | VV/HV ratio | Franke, Steven | |||
| 12 | Backscatter intensity ratio, snow-base interface, HH/VH | HH/VH ratio | Franke, Steven |
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)
Status:
Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)
Size:
1217853 data points
Download Data
View dataset as HTML (shows only first 2000 rows)