Author(s): Andrei Darovskikh; Vladimir Fedotov; Konstantin Tyshko; Klaus-Peter Johnsen; Georg Heygster; Hajo Eicken
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: Passive microwave measurements at 37 GHz have been used to indirectly determine freshwater ice growth rates. The microwave interference effect at the air/ice and ice/water layer boundaries is considered theoretically as well as experimentally with freshwater ice grown in a tank at Lake Ladoga. It is shown that this coherence phenomenon is detectable and can be used to determine the thickness and the growth rate of thin ice. Calculations based on the strong fluctuation theory show that the period of the oscillations of the observed brightness temperatures with increasing ice thickness does not vary with air bubble diameter ranging between 0.1 and 3 mm, while it depends on the density of the ice. The amplitude of the oscillations decreases with increasing air bubble diameter. This was also observed in microwave radiometer measurements for ice grown to 1.7 cm thickness, with air bubble diameters ranging between 0.2 and 1.8 mm.
Year: 1998