Articles | Volume 20, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2237-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2237-2026
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

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Cited articles

van den Akker, T., van Pelt, W., Petterson, R., and Pohjola, V. A.: Long-term development of a perennial firn aquifer on the Lomonosovfonna ice cap, Svalbard, The Cryosphere, 19, 1513–1525, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1513-2025, 2025. 
Baker, I.: Microstructural characterization of snow, firn and ice, Philos. T. R. Soc. A., 377, 20180162, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2018.0162, 2019. 
Bamber, J. L., Westaway, R. M., Marzeion, B., and Wouters, B.: The land ice contribution to sea level during the satellite era, Environ. Res. Lett., 13, 063008, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aac2f0, 2018. 
Brangers, I., Lievens, H., Miège, C., Demuzere, M., Brucker, L., and De Lannoy, G. J. M.: Sentinel-1 Detects Firn Aquifers in the Greenland Ice Sheet, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2019GL085192, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085192, 2020. 
Bringer, A., Miller, J., Johnson, J. T., and Jezek, K. C.: Radiative transfer modeling of the brightness temperature signatures of firn aquifers, in: AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, C11A-0899, https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017AGUFM.C11A0899B/abstract (last access: 1 April 2026), 2017. 
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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.
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