Assessment of contemporary satellite sea ice thickness products for Arctic sea ice

Sallila, Heidi; Farrell, Sinéad Louise; McCurry, Joshua; Rinne, Eero

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1187-2019

Articles | Volume 13, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1187-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1187-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 4

Research article

|

12 Apr 2019

Research article |

| 12 Apr 2019

Assessment of contemporary satellite sea ice thickness products for Arctic sea ice

Heidi Sallila, Sinéad Louise Farrell, Joshua McCurry, and Eero Rinne

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1187-2019-supplement

Data sets

NOAA Climate Data Record of AVHRR Polar Pathfinder Extended (APP-X), Version 1 [October–April, 2010–2018] J. Key, X. Wang, Y. Liu, and NOAA CDR Program https://doi.org/10.7289/V5MK69W6

IceBridge Sea Ice Freeboard, Snow Depth, and Thickness Quick Look, Version 1 [March-April, 2012-2017] N. Kurtz https://doi.org/10.5067/GRIXZ91DE0L9

CryoSat-2 Level-4 Sea Ice Elevation, Freeboard, and Thickness, Version 1 [October-April, 2010-2018] N. Kurtz and J. Harbeck https://doi.org/10.5067/96JO0KIFDAS8

Short summary

We assess 8 years of sea ice thickness observations derived from measurements of CryoSat-2 (CS2), AVHRR and SMOS satellites, collating key details of primary interest to users. We find a number of differences among data products but find that CS2 measurements are reliable for sea ice thickness, particularly between ~ 0.5 and 4 m. Regional comparisons reveal noticeable differences in ice thickness between products, particularly in the marginal seas in areas of considerable ship traffic.