Altimetry backscattering signatures at Ku and S bands over land and ice sheets

Satellite radar altimetry, initially designed for studying ocean surface topography, demonstrated a strong potential for the continuous monitoring of ice sheets and land surfaces over the last 25 years. If radar altimetry is mostly used for its capacity to determine surface height, the backscattering coefficients provide information on the surface properties. Spatio-temporal variations of radar altimetry backscattering over land and ice sheets were related to the nature of the surface and its changes against time. This study presents the results of an along-track analysis of radar altimetry echoes over land, Antarctica and Greenland at Ku and S bands from June 2002 to July 2003 using the ERS-2 and ENVISAT datasets on their nominal orbit during the tandem phase of the two missions. Temporal average and deviations are presented at global scale for ascending and descending tracks for the two missions.