Dual-frequency, multi-polarization airborne synthetic aperture radar (Pi-SAR; developed by the Communications Research Laboratory and National Space Development Agency of Japan) observations of the seasonal sea-ice region off the Okhotsk coast of Hokkaido, Japan, were carried out in February 1999 using X- and L-band radar frequencies with a resolution of 1.5 and 3.0 m. In conjunction with the SAR observations, the sea-ice thickness (draft) and velocity were measured by a moored Ice Profiling Sonar (IPS) and an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). Tracks of the sea ice passing over the IPS were estimated from the time series of the ADCP ice-velocity and -direction data. Along these tracks, the SAR backscattering coefficient profiles were compared with the IPS ice-draft profiles. The results showed that the L-band SAR backs cattering profiles correlated well with the IPS ice-draft data, particularly in the thicker part (a few meters thick) of the rim of first-year ice, which had a large backscattering coefficient. Although the X-band SAR backscattering profiles did not correlate well with the IPS data, thin ice (<10 cm thick) showed a large backscattering coefficient. The L-band SAR and IPS data did not distinguish thin ice from open water.

Multi-frequency, multi-polarization airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations of sea ice in the southern Sea of Okhotsk were carried out in February 1999 in conjunction with RADARSAT SAR observations. The final goal of this study is to clarify the backscattering characteristics and to understand the scattering mechanisms of sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk by using microwave multiparametric SAR. The airborne SAR (Pi-SAR) has two frequencies (X- and L-band) and multi-polarization (HH, VV, HV, VH) with 1.5 m (X-band) and 3.0 m (L-band) resolution. It was developed by the Communications Research Laboratory (X-band) and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (L-band). We show the frequency dependence and polarization properties of radar backscattering from sea ice. We find that it is possible to distinguish ice types by comparing backscattering from sea ice in the X- and L-bands. Investigation of the polarization characteristics at X-band was very useful for detecting the thin-ice area (e.g. nilas and gray ice).

We have acquired ground-truth data at Lake Saroma, northeast Hokkaido, Japan, and the surrounding area since 1993 in order to collect data on regional sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk. The data were acquired in 1999 by polarimetric and interferometric SAR (Pi-SAR), the dual-frequency, fully polarimetric airborne SAR system jointly developed by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL), simultaneously with ground experiments. This paper describes the results of polarimetric data analysis of typical sea ice observed in the offshore region near Lake Saroma. The polarimetric parameters used were correlation coefficient and phase difference. Based on the analysis of these parameters, we found that the correlation coefficient between RR and LL polarizations can discriminate four categories including three types of ice and open water.

Dielectric anisotropy in ice Ih was investigated at 9.7 GHz with the waveguide method. The measurement of dielectric permittivity was made using single crystals collected from Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska. The result of the measurement shows that ϵ′‖c, the real part of dielectric permittivity parallel to the c axis, is larger than ϵ′⊥c the real part of dielectric permittivity perpendicular to the c axis. This tendency is similar to that at low frequencies in the region of the Debye relaxation dispersion. It can be proposed that ϵ′‖c>ϵ′⊥c in the HF, VHF and microwave frequency range. ϵ′‖c and ϵ′‖c depend slightly upon temperature but the dielectric anisotropy, ∆ϵ′=ϵ′‖c-ϵ′⊥c, is constant and becomes 0.037 (±0.007). Based on the present results, a simple caculation indicates that the maximum power reflection coefficient caused by the dielectric anisotropy is about −50 ∼ −80 dB, which is significantly larger than the power reflection coefficient observed in the ice sheet by radio-echo sounding, about −70 ∼ −80 dB. This leads to a conclusion that dielectric anisotropy is one of the dominant causes of internal reflections.