A laboratory study of the effect of frost flowers on C band radar backscatter from sea ice

Ozone in the boundary layer air over the Arctic Ocean: measurements during the TARA transpolar drift 2006–2008

“…7e): the backscatter in the polynya further reduced to the level of backscatter of first year ice. The increase and then decrease of backscatter in the vast polynya is the classic telltale of the frost flower formation and evolution process (Nghiem et al, 1997). The backscatter change corresponding to frost flower formation is observable with the low-resolution QuikSCAT data in this case thanks to the enormous size of the polynya (84 200 km 2 ), slightly larger than the area of Lake Superior (82 400 km 2 ), which is the largest one of the Great Lakes between United States and Canada.…”

ERS-2 SAR image analysis for sea ice classification in the marginal ice zone

“…Backscatter values as high as those from the wind-roughened ice-free sea surface are caused by the high-salinity slush layer beneath the crystals [8]. We successfully distinguished the ice-free ocean from young sea ice covered with frost flowers by means of the mean backscatter in combination with the ice concentration C ASI (Fig.…”

Laboratory measurements of sea ice: connections to microwave remote sensing

“…Our C-band laboratory measurement of the scattering signature was discussed in detail by [23]. The laboratory experiments provided observations of the initial evolution of the signature and not the decay due to the length of the process.…”

“…Polarimetric radar data were taken during the flower growth together with a time series of still photography, video recording, and physical characteristics of frost flowers. Further details of the experiment were described by [23]. The frost flowers consist of 10-30-mm-high fragile saline ice crystals that grow on the ice surface and are accompanied by the formation of a 1-4-mm-thick slush layer under the flowers.…”