Modelling L-band microwave brightness temperature time series for firn aquifers

Xu, Haokui; Tsang, Leung; Miller, Julie; Medley, Brooke C.; Johnson, Joel T.

doi:10.5194/tc-20-2237-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2237-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2237-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 4

Research article

|

20 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 20 Apr 2026

Modelling L-band microwave brightness temperature time series for firn aquifers

Haokui Xu, Leung Tsang, Julie Miller, Brooke C. Medley, and Joel T. Johnson

Data sets

Firn temperatures (2013-2017) and water-level changes (2015-2017) collected at three locations in a firn-aquifer region of the southeastern part of the Greenland Ice Sheet C. Miège et al. https://doi.org/10.18739/A2R785P5W

Density, hydrology and geophysical measurements from the Wilkins Ice Shelf firn aquifer C. Miège et al. https://doi.org/10.15784/601390

Model code and software

Jokerleonxv/firn-aquifer: Firn aquifer simulation code v1.0 (firn_aquifer) Haokui Xu https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19369396

Short summary

This paper provides a physical model to analyze the brightness temperature time series over the firn aquifer in Greenland and Antarctica. The model can match the Vertical polarized and Horizontal polarized brightness temperature time series well. This model provides a potential to study the aquifer water table depth and liquid water content with radiometry.