View article

Data collected by the C band ERS‐2 wind scatterometer (EScat), the Ku band ADEOS‐1 NASA scatterometer (NSCAT), and the Ku band SeaWinds on QuikScat (QSCAT) satellite instruments are used to illustrate spatiotemporal variability in snow accumulation on the Greenland ice sheet. Microwave radar backscatter images of Greenland are derived using the scatterometer image reconstruction (SIR) method at 3‐day intervals over the periods 1991–1998 and 1996–1997 for EScat and NSCAT, respectively. The backscatter coefficient σ° normalized to 40° incidence, A, and gradient in backscatter, B, in the range 20°–60° are compared with historical snow accumulation data and recent measurements made in the Program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA) shallow snow pits. Empirical relationships derived from these comparisons reveal different exponential relationships between C and Ku band A …