Abstract
Radar backscatter measurements were performed on artificially grown sea ice on an outdoor pond at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) during the 1990 winter season. Measurements were made using a step-frequency radar at C and K, bands for angles of incidence ranging from 0 to 60. Snow-covered saline ice and smooth and rough saline ice were observed with all four linear polarizations. A vector error correction calibration technique was applied to the data in order to increase the precision of the measurements by taking into account systematic errors introduced by the radar system. Limited polarization purity and coupling between transmit and receive antennas are the primary sources that perturb the backscatter measurements, particularly cross-polarization measurements. The dynamic range of polarimetric measure- ments is improved through this technique. The objective of this calibration is to obtain measurements whose precision is not limited solely by the radar system itself, but by the quality of the calibration measurements used to characterize the system.
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