Wet snow depth from TanDEM-X single-pass InSAR DEM differencing

Abstract

Single pass radar interferometry (sp-InSAR) is a well established technique for generation of digital elevation models (DEM). Differencing two DEMs acquired at different times can reveal topographic changes. However snow depth estimation by DEM differencing is still an ongoing topic in radar research: in contrast to snow free surfaces, the snow surface elevation is difficult to detect either because of microwave penetration into dry snow or because of the weak backscatter return from wet snow which significantly decorrelates the interferometric signal. In this study we demonstrate first results of wet snow depth estimation by differencing sp-InSAR DEMs acquired by the TanDEM-X satellite mission. The results show, in contrast to dry snow, a clear sensitivity to wet snow. However, additionally to a high vertical sensitivity of a few ten centimeters a very low noise-equivalent-sigma-zero (NESZ) is crucial for successful snow depth estimation.