GNSS-Reflected Signals For Permafrost Monitoring

Monitoring freeze/thaw variations of the Earth surfaces is of great value for the study of biogeochemical processes and climate changes. Over the last decade, the use of passive sensors has been established and, more recently, some researches demonstrated the potential of exploiting observations based on signals of opportunity. We propose an advanced study to assess the capability of spaceborne Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) to give systematic information about the soil freeze/thaw state of high-latitude regions. To this aim, reflectivity values derived from TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) data are elaborated using state-of-art land cover data.