ESA CryoVEx/EU ICE-ARC 2016 - Airborne field campaign with ASIRAS radar and laser scanner over Austfonna, Fram Strait and the Wandel Sea

This report outlines the airborne field operations with the ESA airborne Ku‐band interferometric radar (ASIRAS) and coincident airborne laser scanner (ALS) to acquire gridded data over Austfonna ice cap in Svalbard for CryoSat‐2 validation, first direct Sentinel‐3A underflight over sea ice in the Fram Strait and additional repeat some previously flown sea tracks in Fram Strait and the Wandel Sea. Vertical photography was acquired during sea ice flights to support analysis of ASIRAS and ALS observations. The airborne campaign took place April 4‐16, 2016, operating out of Svalbard and StationNord. The campaign was coordinated by DTU Space using the Norlandair Twin Otter (TF‐POF). It was partly funded by ESA CryoVEx (Austfonna ice cap flights) and partly by EU FP7 project ICE‐ARC (Fram Strait and Wandel sea ice flights). The mobilization costs were shared equally between the projects.The CryoVEx/ICE‐ARC 2016 campaign was a success and the processed data is of high quality. Preliminary comparisons between CryoSat‐2 and ALS data at Austfonna ice cap, proves the concept of using a gridded ALS data set of lines parallel to CryoSat‐2 ground tracks in areas with varying topography. First direct comparisons of Sentinel‐3A and ALS also show consistent results.