The goal of these measurements is to characterize and quantify the impact of surface roughness on surface albedo and altimetry-based retrieval of snow and sea ice elevation over Antarctica. The sub-objectives to accomplish towards this goal are a) gathering a unique data set to be analysed for surface roughness scale dependence and directionality, and b) analysis of the role of surface roughness on surface albedo and remote sensing signals (altimetry, optical remote sensing) of snow and ice in Antarctica. The work contains novel method development in the fields of surface roughness measurements, laser observations of snow and hyperspectral reflectance measurements. The snow in Antarctica is unique in the sense that it lies on top of an ice sheet and evolves in extreme conditions. The strong winds cause it to pack extremely tightly as compared to seasonal snow. The surface is typically very smooth in small scales but the sastrugi and other wind formations give it a distinct structure in macro and large scales. The surface roughness of Antarctic snow is formed by the same forces as for seasonal snow, but the magnitude of different processes is very different. Therefore, to understand the surface roughness effect on Antarctic albedo and remote sensing signals, it needs to be studied in Antarctica. The dataset contains the following observations: 1) Drone-mounted laser scanner measurements 2) Broadband surface albedo measurements 4) Snow surface area (SSA) measurements from snowpits 5) Snow physical properties from snowpit measurements 6) Drone-mounted reflected broadband radiative flux measurements 7/ Data from the AWS5 automatic weather station

2025