Simulating SAR altimeter echoes from cryospheric surfaces with the Snow Microwave Radiative Transfer (SMRT) model version 1.7

Picard, Ghislain; Murfitt, Justin; Zakharova, Elena; Zeiger, Pierre; Arnaud, Laurent; Aublanc, Jeremie; Landy, Jack C.; Scagliola, Michele; Duguay, Claude

doi:10.5194/gmd-19-9103-2026

Articles | Volume 19, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9103-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9103-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 18

Model description paper

|

25 Sep 2026

Model description paper |

| 25 Sep 2026

Simulating SAR altimeter echoes from cryospheric surfaces with the Snow Microwave Radiative Transfer (SMRT) model version 1.7

Ghislain Picard, Justin Murfitt, Elena Zakharova, Pierre Zeiger, Laurent Arnaud, Jeremie Aublanc, Jack C. Landy, Michele Scagliola, and Claude Duguay

Data sets

Snow properties in Antarctica, Canada and the Alps for microwave emission and backscatter modeling Ghislain Picard et al. https://doi.org/10.18709/PERSCIDO.2022.05.DS367

Model code and software

smrt-model/smrt: SAR Altimetry Ghislain Picard https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22013342

ghislainp/sentinel3-sral-l2-at-vanish-asuma-eaiist-domec-sites: v0.9 (Version v0.9) Ghislain Picard https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19231175

smrt-model/sar_altimetry_paper: Initial release Latest (Version 1.0) Ghislain Picard https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22013144

Notebooks and data to compute microwave brightness temperature from microwave grain size and polydispersity Ghislain Picard https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.6519037

Short summary

Radar altimeters measure ice-sheet elevation and sea-ice thickness. To improve their accuracy, we developed a model that simulates altimeter waveforms based on the physical properties of snow and sea ice. It computes the power, time, and Doppler shift of radar echoes as waves travel to the surface, interact with snow and ice, and return to the satellite. The model was verified internally, validated against other models and applied in Antarctica using in-situ snow measurements.