Title: Air Campaign Results for the Wideband Instrument for Snow Measurements
Presenting Author: Tim Durham
Organization: Harris Corporation, Government Systems Division
Co-Author(s): Kerry Speed, Harris Corporation; Paul Racette, Quenton Bonds, NASA GSFC; Hans-Peter Marshall, Boise State University; Leung Tsang, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Lora Koenig University of Colorado, CIRES; Ken Vanhille Nuvotronics, LLC; Felix Miranda, NASA Glenn Research Center; Kevin Lambert, Vantage Partners, LLC

Abstract:
Measurement of land surface snow remains a significant challenge in the remote sensing arena. Developing the tools needed to remotely measure Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) is an important priority. The Wideband Instrument for Snow Measurements (WISM) is being developed to address this need. WISM is an airborne instrument comprised of a dual-frequency (X- and Ku-bands) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and dual-frequency (K- and Ka-bands) radiometer. A unique feature of this instrument is that all measurement bands share a common antenna aperture consisting of an array fed reflector with a feed that covers the entire bandwidth. A 2013 Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) is carrying on the work started in an earlier IIP by 1) enhancing the instrument in several significant areas and 2) carrying out a series of three planned air campaigns. Two of the campaigns will be with snow present and one will be without as needed for calibration of the instruments. The first air campaign was held in February of 2015. A total of four flights were completed over the Grand Mesa in Western Colorado, a site chosen for its relative flatness and availability of snow. In addition to the two instruments that make up WISM, the NASA LiDAR Airborne Topographic Mapper was flown as an additional validation tool. It will supply a large swath map (~500m) of snow depths by differencing the snow-off and snow-on flight measurements. This presentation will cover the results from the first air campaign for all three instruments flown and an overview of the status of the WISM enhancements.