Enhancing Snow Water Equivalent Capabilities with Multifrequency, Multipolarization, Very High-Resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar Information

Due to its high albedo and low thermal conductivity, snow cover plays a central role in the mass and energy exchange across land-atmosphere and ocean-ice-atmosphere interfaces. Snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements are particularly useful in understanding how much liquid water is locked in the pack. This information is vital for understanding summer water use potential and for flood assessments. However, SWE measurements are historically difficult to obtain via remote sensing. Optical and infrared instruments do not penetrate the surface layer, and while existing space-based microwave instruments can provide a proxy for SWE under certain conditions, SWE remains the top unmet priority for mountain hydrology. In this presentation, Harris Corporation will describe the development of a new instrument that provides co-aligned synthetic aperture data at X- and two Ku- bands for operational mapping of SWE.