Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Detection of Glacier Lakes Buried under Snow by RISAT-1 SAR in the Himalayan Terrain


Affiliations
1 Geo Science and Applications Group, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad 380 015, India
 

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) signals penetrate through the dry snow and cloud providing crucial data over the Himalayan temperate glaciers and complement the optical images. In the present study, RISAT-1 C band and AWiFS images of winter/ablation period over Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath moraine dammed lakes (MDLs) in Himachal Pradesh have been analysed. Backscattering coefficient of the lake was observed to be low throughout the year. Penetration depth of SAR into dry snowpack was calculated to vary from 4 to 22 m for a range of snow density (0.1-0.5 g/cm3), whereas it was estimated to be 1.20- 2.01 m based on ground observations for 30 January and 24 February 2013. The present study provides results of RISAT-1 C-band penetration up to ~2 m through the snowpack to detect MDLs in the Himalayan terrain. The detection of MDLs using the backscattering images of winter season was validated with synchronous AWiFS sensor images.

Keywords

Backscattering Coefficient, Glacier Lakes, Snow and Cloud, Synthetic Aperature Radar.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Ulaby, F. T., Moore, R. K. and Fung, A. K., Microwave Remote Sensing Active and Passive, II & III, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1986, p. 2162.

  • Joseph, G., Fundamentals of Remote Sensing, Universities Press (India) Private Limited, Hyderabad, 2003, p. 431.

  • Rees, G. W., Remote Sensing of Snow and Ice, CRC Press, 2006, p. 284.

  • Shi, J., Active microwave remote sensing systems and applications to snow monitoring. In Advances in Land Remote Sensing (ed. Liang, S.), Springer Science + Business Media B.V., 2008, pp. 19–49.

  • Hall, D. K., Remote sensing of snow and ice using imaging radar. In Principles and Applications of Imaging Radars (eds Henderson, F. M. and Lewis, L. A.; editor-in-chief Ryerson, R. A.), John Wiley, 1998, vol. 2, 3rd edn, pp. 677–703.

  • Venkataraman, G. and Singh, G., Radar application in snow, ice and glaciers. In Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers (eds Singh, V. P., Singh, P. and Haritashya, U. K.), 2011, pp. 883–903; doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-2642-2

  • Singh, S. K., Rathore, B. P. and Bahuguna, I. M., Understanding the effect of various glacier features on backscattering coefficients of the SAR data in the Himalayan region. SAC/EPSA/MPSG/ GSD/RISAT/SR/83/2013, 2013, p. 24.

  • Hall, D. K., Fagre, D. B., Klasner, F., Linebaugh, G. and Liston, G. E., Analysis of ERS 1 synthetic aperture radar of frozen lakes in northern Montana and implications for climate studies. J. Geophys. Res., 1994, 99(C11), 22,473–22,482.

  • Strozzi, T., Wiesmann, A., Kääb, A., Joshi, S. and Mool, P., Glacial lake mapping with very high resolution satellite SAR data. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 2012, 12, 2487–2498.

  • Kiran Kumar, A. S., Significance of RISAT-1 in ISRO’s Earth observation programme. Curr. Sci., 2013, 104(4), 444–445.

  • Misra, T. et al., Synthetic aperture radar payload on-board RISAT-1: configuration, technology and performance. Curr. Sci., 2013, 104(4), 446–461.

  • Kulkarni, A. V., Dhar, S., Rathore, B. P., Babu, G. R. K. and Kalia, R., Recession of Samudra Tapu glacier, Chandra basin, Himachal Pradesh. Photonirvachak, 2006, 34(1), 39–46.

  • Hallikainen, M. and Winebrenner, D. P., The physical basis for sea ice remote sensing. In Microwave Remote Sensing of Sea Ice (eds Carsey, F. D.), American Geophysical Unit, 1992, pp 29-46, ISBN: 0-87590-033-X.


Abstract Views: 289

PDF Views: 113




  • Detection of Glacier Lakes Buried under Snow by RISAT-1 SAR in the Himalayan Terrain

Abstract Views: 289  |  PDF Views: 113

Authors

S. K. Singh
Geo Science and Applications Group, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad 380 015, India
A. S. Rajawat
Geo Science and Applications Group, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad 380 015, India
B. P. Rathore
Geo Science and Applications Group, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad 380 015, India
I. M. Bahuguna
Geo Science and Applications Group, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad 380 015, India
M. Chakraborty
Geo Science and Applications Group, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad 380 015, India

Abstract


Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) signals penetrate through the dry snow and cloud providing crucial data over the Himalayan temperate glaciers and complement the optical images. In the present study, RISAT-1 C band and AWiFS images of winter/ablation period over Samudra Tapu and Gepang Gath moraine dammed lakes (MDLs) in Himachal Pradesh have been analysed. Backscattering coefficient of the lake was observed to be low throughout the year. Penetration depth of SAR into dry snowpack was calculated to vary from 4 to 22 m for a range of snow density (0.1-0.5 g/cm3), whereas it was estimated to be 1.20- 2.01 m based on ground observations for 30 January and 24 February 2013. The present study provides results of RISAT-1 C-band penetration up to ~2 m through the snowpack to detect MDLs in the Himalayan terrain. The detection of MDLs using the backscattering images of winter season was validated with synchronous AWiFS sensor images.

Keywords


Backscattering Coefficient, Glacier Lakes, Snow and Cloud, Synthetic Aperature Radar.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv109%2Fi9%2F1735-1739