Snowmelt detection on the Antarctic ice sheet and ice Shelves based on AMSR2 89 GHz channels

Abstract

Currently, the spatial resolution of snowmelt detection based on low-frequency brightness temperature data (less than or equal to 36 GHz) from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) is low, which inhibits the determination of accurate snowmelt changes. The spatial resolution of the AMSR2 89 GHz data is at least twice that of other microwave channels, but liquid water in clouds seriously affects the propagation of the high-frequency microwave signal. In order to apply microwave radiometer AMSR-2 89 GHz data with high spatial resolution but easily disturbed by clouds and water vapor to Antarctic ice-sheet near-surface snowmelt detection, this paper builds a screening model and correction model for 89 GHz data with large interference based on the high reliability of AMSR-2 36 GHz data and the high spatial resolution of 89 GHz data and the internal relationship between the two data. The method proposed in this paper was compared with the cross-polarised gradient ratio (XPGR) algorithm and six automatic weather stations. The average detection accuracy of the proposed method and the XPGR algorithm is 97% and 95%, respectively. The experimental results show that the snowmelt detection method proposed in this paper can more accurately detect the snowmelt on the Antarctic Ice Sheet and Ice Shelves.