Environmental parameters of the arctic tundra

The arctic tundra is an unglaciated, treeless landscape characterized by the presence of continuous permafrost. The tundra is vegetated by low vegetation such as grass and sedges, herbs, little bushes, lichens and mosses. Wetlands are present as well as debris covered unvegetated areas. As the Tundra is mainly uninhabited and there is almost no infrastructure, research in the field is a logistic challenge and expensive. Thus remote sensing is a good and cost efficient opportunity to map and monitor this area. Due to frequent cloudy conditions and permanent darkness during the winter month, the use of optical satellite data is limited. As radar waves are almost unaffected by clouds and operate independent of sunlight, radar remote sensing is a good opportunity to receive information about the state of the tundra in large areas near real time.