Bistatic radar measurements on Jungfraujoch
In August, a team of researchers from our group carried out a measurement campaign at the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch, with aims of exploration of bistatic scattering properties of the snow cover on top of the Aletsch Glacier.
In order to achieve proper calibration of both instruments forming the bistatic configuration, calibration targets needed to be placed in the observed terrain. Michael Arnold and Philipp Bernhard formed the glacier operations team and deployed the calibration targets on the scene, while Pol Villalvilla and Marcel Stefko operated the radar instruments at the station.
Operations at night and in the early morning also enabled data acquisitions at the optimal stage of the daily melt-freeze cycle of the snow cover which occurs during the summer season.
While data analysis is still in progress, the week-long campaign already yielded useful data not only about the bistatic polarimetric scattering properties of snow cover under changing conditions, but also about the performance of the bistatic KAPRI configuration in the Alpine environment.
We thank the staff and the custodians of the external pageHigh Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch for their support over the course of the preparations, and the campaign itself.