Frozen State Backscatter Intensity from Sentinel-1, 2015-2016, West Siberia (RU)

Frozen state backscatter intensity was derived from Sentinel-1 acquisitions from December 2015 and 2016. By excluding the effects of liquid water content (acquisitions under frozen conditions), backscatter only depends on surface roughness and vegetation structure. C-HH winter backscatter could be shown to correspond to wetness levels. Smooth surfaces represent wetter areas than rough surfaces (with respect to wavelength, ~5.6 cm). In addition, C-band SAR information (frozen condition) can be directly translated into soil organic carbon content of the upper 0-100 cm for areas without woody vegetation.

For the retrieval of wetness levels the following backscatter ranges are suggested (based on CAVM wetness characterization, Widhalm et al. 2015, 2018):

• -18 dB to -15.5 dB: wet
• -15.5 dB to -14.2 dB: medium wetness
• larger than -14.2 dB: dry or trees/higher shrubs
• smaller than -18 dB: other (includes sandy surfaces)

The completet dataset covers the following regions: Yamal peninsula (Russia), Usa Basin (Russia), Lena Delta (Russia), Mackenzie Delta (Canada), Barrow, Toolik and Teshekpuk Lake region (Alaska). Click the 'Groups' tab above for an overview of all datasets.

More information about image processing can be found in the product guide and the related publications.