AZIMUTHAL MODULATION OF C-BAND SCATTEROMETER SIGMA(0) OVER SOUTHERN-OCEAN SEA-ICE

In a continuing evaluation of the ERS-1 C-band scatterometer as a tool for studying polar sea ice, we evaluate the azimuthal modulation char acteristics of Antarctic sea ice. ERS-1 AMI scatterometer mode data se ts from several study regions dispersed in the Antarctic seasonal sea ice pack are evaluated for azimuthal modulation, When appropriate, the incidence angle dependence is estimated and removed in a study region before determining,whether azimuthal modulation is present in the dat a. Other comparisons are made using the fore and aft beam measurement difference. Our results show that over the ice pack, azimuthal modulat ion is less than 1 dB at the scale of observation of the ERS-1 C-band scatterometer.