Ultra-wideband radars operating over the frequency range of 2-18 GHZ for measurements on terrestrial snow and ice

In this paper, we present the development of an ultra-wideband microwave radar for fine-resolution measurements of snow. The radar was developed for operation on a Twin Otter aircraft with a nominal survey altitude of 500 m. The radar is designed to operate in frequency modulated continuous wave (FM-CW) mode from 2 to 18 GHz. The radar has a total transmit power is of 1.5 W and a vertical resolution of 1.6 cm as demonstrated experimentally. The radar has two modes of operation: snow sounding mode for snow thickness measurements and accumulation mapping, and side-looking mode for snow backscatter measurements and imaging. The radar system was flown from Barrow, Alaska in spring 2015 and 2016 as a part of the Naval Research Laboratory sea ice survey campaign to characterize sea ice and snow on sea ice. Between February and March 2016, we also took advantage of radar test flights in Colorado to conduct terrestrial snow measurements over the alpine areas. Sample radar data from the field campaigns will be presented.