Airborne Experiment on Insar Snow Mass Retrieval in Alpine Environment
Thomas Nägler, Helmut Rott, Stefan Scheiblauer, Ludivine Libert, Nico Mölg, Ralf Horn, Jens Fischer, Martin Keller, Alberto Moreira, Julia Kubanek
Abstract
In March 2021 a field campaign was conducted in the Austrian Alps exploring the application potential and performance of snow mass (snow water equivalent, SWE) retrievals by means of repeat-pass radar interferometry (RP-InSAR). Multiple repeat-pass acquisitions were obtained with an airborne polarimetric C-band and L-band SAR, covering days without snowfall, as well as two snowfall events of different intensity. SWE maps, deduced from the observed change of the RP-InSAR phase delay in the snowpack, show good agreement with field measurements. Whereas L-band data are well applicable for SWE mapping of both snowfall events, the 2 π phase ambiguity and low coherence prevent the use of C-band data for the snowfall event of high intensity. The analysis of the campaign data is going on, addressing among other topics the application of RP-InSAR for SWE monitoring within the planned L-band SAR mission ROSE-L of the European Copernicus program and by means of geostationary C-band SAR as proposed for the Hydroterra mission.