Assess the potential for ESA products improvements.

• Quality of surface types in the products
• Analysis of freeboard SNR (could come from computation and gridding methods)
• Impact of Delay Doppler Processing options onto height and freeboard measurements
• Snow cover impact on freeboard measurement
• Assess the benefits of dual band (Ku/Ka) to better detect and account for Snow Depth (CryoVex/Karen spring 2017 campaign)
• Check continuity issues :
  • Brownian WF (floes) and specular WF (leads) in a sequence,
  • off-nadir hookings (due to leads, polynyas, …)
  • side-lobe contamination effects
  • check the products at the pack ice - fast ice transitions

Corrective & New Approaches.

• Geophysical retracking (CLS, SAMOSA+) to improve continuity over different surfaces (no threshold)
• New freeboard computation techniques to be tested
• SARIN mode freeboard prototyping
• SARIN swath processing over sea-ice : theoretical and experimental aspects
• New Metrics & Diagnostic Tools : detailed analysis of waveforms, stacks, radar chronograms also in combination with SAR images (Sentinel-1)

New Approaches / New Subjects.

• Geophysical retracking : develop / test physical based retrackers for sea ice (improved space-time consistency : no space-time dependent threshold).
• New Freeboard computation & Gridding methods.
• Exploitation of Ku/Ka synergy (surface type, snow depth, freeboard) :
  • Cryovex Campaign data (concomitant acquisitions)
  • CryoSat-2 / SARAL crossings @ short time interval
  • Compare airborne vs spaceborne