Influence of ice thickness on SMOS and aquarius brightness temperatures over Antarctica

Abstract

The Dome-C region, in the East Antarctic Plateau, has been used for calibration/validation of satellite microwave radiometers since the 1970's. However, its use as an independent external target has been recently questioned due to some spatial inhomogeneities found in L-band airborne and satellite observations. This work evidences the influence of the Antarctic ice thickness spatial variations on the measured SMOS and Aquarius brightness temperatures (T B ). The possible effects of subglacial water and bedrock on the acquired radiometric signals have also been analyzed. A 3-months no-daylight period during the Austral winter has been selected. Four transects over East Antarctica have been defined to study the spatial variations. A good agreement between SMOS and Aquarius T B changes and ice thickness variations over the whole Antarctica has been observed, obtaining linear correlations of 0.6–0.7 and slopes of 8.6–9.5 K/km. The subglacial lakes may affect the vertical physical temperature profile and/or the dielectric properties of the ice layers above. As expected, the subglacial bedrock is not contributing to the measured T B , since the maximum estimated L-band penetration depth is ∼1–1.5 km.