Sea Ice Thickness Detection Using Coastal BeiDou Reflection Setup in Bohai Bay

This letter is dedicated to evaluating the potential use of reflected signals from the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System for retrieving the thickness of sea ice. Accurate phase altimetry results over sea ice would be helpful for detecting the sea ice thickness. Here, a new phase processing approach is proposed to estimate the adaptable phase altimetry result. During the data processing, fake wrap points in the residual interferometric phase are replaced by fit values; moreover, the phase altimetry result is shown to reach centimeter accuracy. A coastal experiment was performed from January 22 to February 19, 2016, in Dashentang, Tianjin, China. The sea ice thicknesses calculated from the phase altimetry results and Archimedes' principle range from 5 to 25 cm, which are consistent with the thicknesses of samples collected during the experimental period in Bohai Bay near Dashentang.