Dual-Frequency Ku- Band Radar Mission Concept for Snow Mass

Transcription

1 Dual-Frequency Ku- Band Radar Mission Concept for Snow Mass Chris Derksen Environment and Climate Change Canada Study Team: Climate Research Division/Meteorological Research Division, ECCC Canadian Space Agency Airbus Defence and Space (pre-phase 0 industrial contractor) Science Steering Group Wearable technology, developed with funding from the NSERC Discovery Grants program Source: Western University

2 Dual-Frequency Ku-Band Radar Mission Concept for Snow Mass Improved remote sensing of snow mass is a priority at ECCC: -operational environmental prediction (numerical weather prediction; hydrological forecasting; seasonal prediction) -climate services and water availability (snow is a volatile freshwater resource) Theoretical studies, airborne measurements, and previous satellite missions such as QuikScat show the potential of Ku-band radar for snow applications. The CoReH20 mission concept (X- and Ku-band) completed Phase A at ESA but was not selected for Earth Explorer-7. In partnership with Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Canadian Space Agency initiated a pre-phase 0 study in 2015/16 to identify a technical concept for a Ku-band radar mission. Work with the industrial contractor was completed in March Phase 0 initiated in summer While the primary mission driver is terrestrial snow, Ku-band radar measurements are also well suited for sea ice, land ice, and ocean wind applications. 2

3 Mission Drivers 1. The amount, distribution, and variability of terrestrial snow mass is poorly quantified (requires snow water equivalent retrieval) 2. The performance of land-atmosphere data assimilation systems is limited by inadequate treatment of snow mass (requires backscatter) 3. Improved initialization of snow mass will allow more skilled hydrological prediction 4. Spring snow mass can represent a significant hazard How much water is stored as seasonal snow and how does it vary in space and time? What is the contribution of snow to the water cycle and how well can we predict it? 2013 flood event, South Saskatchewan/Elk River basin 3 Dual-Frequency Ku-Band Radar Mission Concept for Snow Mass

4 Technical Concept Single-aperture dual-frequency Ku-band antenna (13.5/17.2 GHz); sequential frequency operation 500 km swath; 18 x 30 km sub-scans 250 m resolution (>4 looks) Stripmap mode: 10 m (single look) Mass, power, and heat dissipation budgets show a SAR-on duty cycle of ~40% is achievable InSAR options still open Multiple orbits still under consideration; complete swath overlap with the Microwave Imager (MWI) and C-band Scatterometer (SCA) (Met- Op-SG Sat B) is possible Revisit Period 830 km S1 S2 Minimum Latitude 5 days All latitudes 3 days >43 2 days >61 1 day >65 S Dual-Frequency Ku-Band Radar Mission Concept for Snow Mass

5 Pathway Forward Technology development roadmap is in place; current TRL between 5 and 9 for all sub-systems Science development roadmap: development of SWE retrievals using new airborne datasets; OSSE s to support backscatter assimilation; improved modeling of vegetation and soil; current SRL of 3-4 The U.S. Decadal Strategy identified snow mass as one of seven variables to be competed in the Earth System Explorer group. Areas of current Canadian/NASA collaboration: -NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Program is supporting airborne Ku-band radar measurements (PI: Paul Siquera, UMass) in Canada during winter 2018/19, in partnership with CSA and ECCC -Deployment of JPL FMCW tomo-sar during 2017/18 and 2018/19 winters in Fraser Colorado Similar Ku-band mission concept was unsuccessfully proposed to ESA for Earth Explorer 10 -Ongoing scientific collaboration with European partners continues -CCI+ snow initiative recently kicked off 5 Dual-Frequency Ku-Band Radar Mission Concept for Snow Mass