Airborne SnowSAR data at X- and Ku- bands over boreal forest, alpine and tundra snow cover

The European Space Agency (ESA) SnowSAR instrument is a side looking, dual polarized (VV/VH), X/Ku band SAR, operable from a small aircraft. Between 2010 and 2013, the instrument was deployed at several sites in Northern Finland, Austrian Alps, and northern Canada. The purpose of the airborne campaigns was to gather information on the backscattering properties of snow covered terrain to support the development of Snow Water Equivalent retrieval techniques using SAR. SnowSAR was deployed in Sodankylä, Northern Finland for a single test flight in March 2011 and ten acquisition flights at two sites (tundra and boreal forest) in the winter of 2011-2012. Over the Austrian Alps, three flight campaigns were performed between November 2012 and February 2013 over three sites located in different elevation zones, representing a montane valley, Alpine tundra, and a glacier environment. In Canada a total of two missions were flown in March and April 2013, over sites in the Trail Valley Creek watershed, Northwest Territories, representative of the tundra snow regime. This data package includes the collected airborne SAR data, as well as coincident in situ information on meteorological conditions, land cover, vegetation and snow properties.