Radar altimeter waveform simulations in Antarctica with the Snow Microwave Radiative Transfer Model (SMRT)

International audienceRadar altimeters are important tools to monitor the volume of the ice sheets. The penetration of radar waves in the snowpack is a major source of uncertainty to retrieve surface elevation. To correct this effect, a better understanding of the sensitivity of the radar waveforms to snow properties is needed. Here, we present an extension of the Snow Model Radiative Transfer (SMRT) to compute radar waveforms and conduct a series of simulations on the Antarctic ice sheet. SMRT is driven by snow and surface roughness properties measured over a large latitudinal range during two field campaigns on the Antarctic Plateau. These measurements show that the snowpack is rougher, denser, less stratified, warmer, and has smaller snow grains near the coast than on the central Plateau. These simulations are compared to satellite observations in the Ka, Ku, and S bands. SMRT reproduces the observed waveforms well. For all sites and all sensors, the main contribution comes from the surface echo. The echo from snow grains (volume scattering) represents up to 40% of the amplitude of the total waveform power in the Ka band, and less at the lower frequencies. The highest amplitude is observed on the central Plateau due to the combinatio