Comparison of space borne radar altimetry and airborne laser altimetry over sea ice in the Fram Strait

This paper describes the first comparison of satellite radar and airborne laser altimetry over sea ice. In order to investigate the differences between measurements from the two different instruments we explore the statistical properties of the data and determine reasonable scales in space and time at which to examine them.

The resulting differences between the data sets show that the laser and the radar are reflecting from different surfaces and that the magnitude of the difference decreases with increasing surface air temperature. This suggests that the penetration depth of the radar signal, into the snow, varies with temperature.

The results also show the potential for computing Arctic wide snow depth maps by combining measurements from laser and radar altimeters.