Understanding biases in ICESat-2 data due to subsurface scattering using Airborne Topographic Mapper waveform data

Smith, Benjamin E.; Studinger, Michael; Sutterley, Tyler; Fair, Zachary; Neumann, Thomas

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-975-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-975-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-975-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 3

Research article

|

05 Mar 2025

Research article |

| 05 Mar 2025

Understanding biases in ICESat-2 data due to subsurface scattering using Airborne Topographic Mapper waveform data

Benjamin E. Smith, Michael Studinger, Tyler Sutterley, Zachary Fair, and Thomas Neumann

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-975-2025-supplement

Data sets

IceBridge ATM L1B Elevation and Return Strength with Waveforms, Version 1 M. Studinger https://doi.org/10.5067/ezq5u3r3xwbs

IceBridge Narrow Swath ATM L1B Elevation and Return Strength with Waveforms, Version 1 M. Studinger https://doi.org/10.5067/v25x7lhdpmzy

NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) ground calibration data for waveform data products (1.0) M. Studinger et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7225937

Snow broadband albedo, specific surface area and optical grain diameter from Sentinel-3's OLCI, daily 1 km mosaics, Greenland B. Vandecrux et al. https://doi.org/10.22008/fk2/oiajvo

IceBridge ATM Waveform Derived Snow Effective Grain Radius. (ILATMGR, Version 1) B. Smith et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/1207YUVC7KOO

Short summary

This study investigates errors (biases) that may result when green lasers are used to measure the elevation of glaciers and ice sheets. These biases are important because if the snow or ice on top of the ice sheet changes, it can make the elevation of the ice appear to change by the wrong amount. We measure these biases over the Greenland Ice Sheet with a laser system on an airplane and explore how the use of satellite data can let us correct for the biases.