Dry Snow Analysis in Alpine Regions using RADARSAT-2 Full Polarimetry Data. Comparison With In Situ Measurements

Jean-Pierre Dedieu (1) , Nikola Besic (2, 3) , Gabriel Vasile (3) , J. Mathieu (1) , Yves Durand (4) , F. Gottardi (5)

1 LTHE - Laboratoire d'étude des transferts en hydrologie et environnement
2 Department of Electrical Engineering
3 GIPSA-SIGMAPHY - GIPSA - Signal Images Physique
4 CNRM - Centre national de recherches météorologiques
5 DTG - EDF - Division Technique Générale

In this paper we describe the benefits of RADARSAT-2 in the analysis of temporal changes in polarimetric parameters linked to the snow cover evolution during the winter season. The presented study took place over an instrumented area in the region of French Alps. The focus is set on the dry snow depth retrieval, using an original method based on principal component statistical analysis (PCA) of the polarimetric parameters values. The results obtained by this mean are compared with the network of simultaneous snow in situ measurements. The most thought-provoking result is the strong inverse correlation between the snow depth above the ice crust and the entropy, reflected through the very high coefficient of determination. In order to justify this observation, we propose an appropriate physical hypothesis.

Domaines: Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Jean-Pierre Dedieu, Nikola Besic, Gabriel Vasile, J. Mathieu, Yves Durand, et al.. Dry Snow Analysis in Alpine Regions using RADARSAT-2 Full Polarimetry Data. Comparison With In Situ Measurements. IGARSS 2014 - IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Jul 2014, Québec, Canada. pp.4. ⟨hal-01065809⟩