Articles | Volume 17, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2211-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
02 Jun 2023
Research article |
| 02 Jun 2023
| 02 Jun 2023
Wind redistribution of snow impacts the Ka- and Ku-band radar signatures of Arctic sea ice
Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Rosemary Willatt
Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, Earth Sciences, University College London, London, UK
Robbie Mallett
Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, Earth Sciences, University College London, London, UK
Julienne Stroeve
Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, Earth Sciences, University College London, London, UK
Torsten Geldsetzer
Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Randall Scharien
Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada
Rasmus Tonboe
DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
John Yackel
Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Jack Landy
Centre for Integrated Remote Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic
Operations (CIRFA), UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
David Clemens-Sewall
Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA
Arttu Jutila
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine
Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
David N. Wagner
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), Davos,
Switzerland
CRYOS, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
Daniela Krampe
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine
Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
Marcus Huntemann
Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Mallik Mahmud
Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
David Jensen
Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Thomas Newman
Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, Earth Sciences, University College London, London, UK
Stefan Hendricks
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine
Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
Gunnar Spreen
Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Amy Macfarlane
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), Davos,
Switzerland
Martin Schneebeli
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), Davos,
Switzerland
James Mead
ProSensing Inc, Amherst, MA, USA
Robert Ricker
NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS, Bergen, Norway
Michael Gallagher
Physical Sciences Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Claude Duguay
Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
H2O Geomatics Inc., Waterloo, Canada
Ian Raphael
Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA
Chris Polashenski
Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA
Michel Tsamados
Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, Earth Sciences, University College London, London, UK
Ilkka Matero
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine
Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
Mario Hoppmann
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine
Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
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Karl Kortum, Suman Singha, Gunnar Spreen, Nils Hutter, Arttu Jutila, and Christian Haas
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Moein Mellat, Amy R. Macfarlane, Camilla F. Brunello, Martin Werner, Martin Schneebeli, Ruzica Dadic, Stefanie Arndt, Kaisa-Riikka Mustonen, Jeffrey M. Welker, and Hanno Meyer
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Preprint archived
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The Cryosphere, 18, 1259–1285, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1259-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1259-2024, 2024
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Leads (openings in sea ice cover) are created by sea ice dynamics. Because they are important for many processes in the Arctic winter climate, we aim to detect them with satellites. We present two new techniques to detect lead widths of a few hundred meters at high spatial resolution (700 m) and independent of clouds or sun illumination. We use the MOSAiC drift 2019–2020 in the Arctic for our case study and compare our new products to other existing lead products.
Evelyn Jäkel, Sebastian Becker, Tim R. Sperzel, Hannah Niehaus, Gunnar Spreen, Ran Tao, Marcel Nicolaus, Wolfgang Dorn, Annette Rinke, Jörg Brauchle, and Manfred Wendisch
The Cryosphere, 18, 1185–1205, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1185-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1185-2024, 2024
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The results of the surface albedo scheme of a coupled regional climate model were evaluated against airborne and ground-based measurements conducted in the European Arctic in different seasons between 2017 and 2022. We found a seasonally dependent bias between measured and modeled surface albedo for cloudless and cloudy situations. The strongest effects of the albedo model bias on the net irradiance were most apparent in the presence of optically thin clouds.
Wiebke Margitta Kolbe, Rasmus T. Tonboe, and Julienne Stroeve
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1247–1264, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1247-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1247-2024, 2024
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Current satellite-based sea-ice climate data records (CDRs) usually begin in October 1978 with the first multichannel microwave radiometer data. Here, we present a sea ice dataset based on the single-channel Electrical Scanning Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) that operated from 1972-1977 onboard NASA’s Nimbus 5 satellite. The data were processed using modern methods and include uncertainty estimations in order to provide an important, easy-to-use reference period of good quality for current CDRs.
Hannah Niehaus, Larysa Istomina, Marcel Nicolaus, Ran Tao, Aleksey Malinka, Eleonora Zege, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 18, 933–956, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-933-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-933-2024, 2024
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Melt ponds are puddles of meltwater which form on Arctic sea ice in the summer period. They are darker than the ice cover and lead to increased absorption of solar energy. Global climate models need information about the Earth's energy budget. Thus satellite observations are used to monitor the surface fractions of melt ponds, ocean, and sea ice in the entire Arctic. We present a new physically based algorithm that can separate these three surface types with uncertainty below 10 %.
Justin Murfitt, Claude Duguay, Ghislain Picard, and Juha Lemmetyinen
The Cryosphere, 18, 869–888, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-869-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-869-2024, 2024
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This research focuses on the interaction between microwave signals and lake ice under wet conditions. Field data collected for Lake Oulujärvi in Finland were used to model backscatter under different conditions. The results of the modelling likely indicate that a combination of increased water content and roughness of different interfaces caused backscatter to increase. These results could help to identify areas where lake ice is unsafe for winter transportation.
Amy R. Macfarlane, Henning Löwe, Lucille Gimenes, David N. Wagner, Ruzica Dadic, Rafael Ottersberg, Stefan Hämmerle, and Martin Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 17, 5417–5434, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5417-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5417-2023, 2023
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Snow acts as an insulating blanket on Arctic sea ice, keeping the underlying ice "warm", relative to the atmosphere. Knowing the snow's thermal conductivity is essential for understanding winter ice growth. During the MOSAiC expedition, we measured the thermal conductivity of snow. We found spatial and vertical variability to overpower any temporal variability or dependency on underlying ice type and the thermal resistance to be directly influenced by snow height.
Baptiste Vandecrux, Jason E. Box, Andreas P. Ahlstrøm, Signe B. Andersen, Nicolas Bayou, William T. Colgan, Nicolas J. Cullen, Robert S. Fausto, Dominik Haas-Artho, Achim Heilig, Derek A. Houtz, Penelope How, Ionut Iosifescu Enescu, Nanna B. Karlsson, Rebecca Kurup Buchholz, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Daniel McGrath, Noah P. Molotch, Bianca Perren, Maiken K. Revheim, Anja Rutishauser, Kevin Sampson, Martin Schneebeli, Sandy Starkweather, Simon Steffen, Jeff Weber, Patrick J. Wright, Henry Jay Zwally, and Konrad Steffen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5467–5489, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5467-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5467-2023, 2023
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The Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net) comprises stations that have been monitoring the weather on the Greenland Ice Sheet for over 30 years. These stations are being replaced by newer ones maintained by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). The historical data were reprocessed to improve their quality, and key information about the weather stations has been compiled. This augmented dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.22008/FK2/VVXGUT (Steffen et al., 2022).
Pablo Saavedra Garfias, Heike Kalesse-Los, Luisa von Albedyll, Hannes Griesche, and Gunnar Spreen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14521–14546, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14521-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14521-2023, 2023
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An important Arctic climate process is the release of heat fluxes from sea ice openings to the atmosphere that influence the clouds. The characterization of this process is the objective of this study. Using synergistic observations from the MOSAiC expedition, we found that single-layer cloud properties show significant differences when clouds are coupled or decoupled to the water vapour transport which is used as physical link between the upwind sea ice openings and the cloud under observation.
Evgenii Salganik, Benjamin A. Lange, Christian Katlein, Ilkka Matero, Philipp Anhaus, Morven Muilwijk, Knut V. Høyland, and Mats A. Granskog
The Cryosphere, 17, 4873–4887, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4873-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4873-2023, 2023
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The Arctic Ocean is covered by a layer of sea ice that can break up, forming ice ridges. Here we measure ice thickness using an underwater sonar and compare ice thickness reduction for different ice types. We also study how the shape of ridged ice influences how it melts, showing that deeper, steeper, and narrower ridged ice melts the fastest. We show that deformed ice melts 3.8 times faster than undeformed ice at the bottom ice--ocean boundary, while at the surface they melt at a similar rate.
Monojit Saha, Julienne Stroeve, Dustin Isleifson, John Yackel, Vishnu Nandan, Jack Christopher Landy, and Hoi Ming Lam
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2509, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2509, 2023
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Snow on sea ice is vital for near-shore sea ice geophysical and biological processes. Past studies have measured snow depths using satellite altimeters Cryosat-2 and ICESat-2 (Cryo2Ice) but estimating sea surface height from lead-less land-fast sea ice remains challenging. Snow depths from Cryo2Ice are compared to in-situ after adjusting for tides. Realistic snow depths are retrieved but difference in roughness, satellite footprints and snow geophysical properties are identified as challenges.
Alistair Duffey, Robbie Mallett, Peter J. Irvine, Michel Tsamados, and Julienne Stroeve
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 1165–1169, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-1165-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-1165-2023, 2023
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The Arctic is warming several times faster than the rest of the planet. Here, we use climate model projections to quantify for the first time how this faster warming in the Arctic impacts the timing of crossing the 1.5 °C and 2 °C thresholds defined in the Paris Agreement. We show that under plausible emissions scenarios that fail to meet the Paris 1.5 °C target, a hypothetical world without faster warming in the Arctic would breach that 1.5 °C target around 5 years later.
Geoffrey J. Dawson and Jack C. Landy
The Cryosphere, 17, 4165–4178, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4165-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4165-2023, 2023
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In this study, we compared measurements from CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 over Arctic summer sea ice to understand any possible biases between the two satellites. We found that there is a difference when we measure elevation over summer sea ice using CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2, and this is likely due to surface melt ponds. The differences we found were in good agreement with theoretical predictions, and this work will be valuable for summer sea ice thickness measurements from both altimeters.
Larysa Istomina, Hannah Niehaus, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-142, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-142, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for TC
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Melt water puddles, or melt ponds on top of the Arctic sea ice are a good measure of the Arctic climate state. In the context of the recent climate warming, the Arctic has warmed about 4 times faster than the rest of the world, and a long-term dataset of the melt pond fraction is needed to be able to model the future development of the Arctic climate. We present such a dataset, produce 2002–2023 trends and highlight a potential melt regime shift with drastic regional trends of +20 % per decade.
Alexander Mchedlishvili, Christof Lüpkes, Alek Petty, Michel Tsamados, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 17, 4103–4131, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4103-2023, 2023
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In this study we looked at sea ice–atmosphere drag coefficients, quantities that help with characterizing the friction between the atmosphere and sea ice, and vice versa. Using ICESat-2, a laser altimeter that measures elevation differences by timing how long it takes for photons it sends out to return to itself, we could map the roughness, i.e., how uneven the surface is. From roughness we then estimate drag force, the frictional force between sea ice and the atmosphere, across the Arctic.
Olivia Linke, Johannes Quaas, Finja Baumer, Sebastian Becker, Jan Chylik, Sandro Dahlke, André Ehrlich, Dörthe Handorf, Christoph Jacobi, Heike Kalesse-Los, Luca Lelli, Sina Mehrdad, Roel A. J. Neggers, Johannes Riebold, Pablo Saavedra Garfias, Niklas Schnierstein, Matthew D. Shupe, Chris Smith, Gunnar Spreen, Baptiste Verneuil, Kameswara S. Vinjamuri, Marco Vountas, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9963–9992, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9963-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9963-2023, 2023
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Lapse rate feedback (LRF) is a major driver of the Arctic amplification (AA) of climate change. It arises because the warming is stronger at the surface than aloft. Several processes can affect the LRF in the Arctic, such as the omnipresent temperature inversion. Here, we compare multimodel climate simulations to Arctic-based observations from a large research consortium to broaden our understanding of these processes, find synergy among them, and constrain the Arctic LRF and AA.
Philip Rostosky and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 17, 3867–3881, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3867-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3867-2023, 2023
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During winter, storms entering the Arctic region can bring warm air into the cold environment. Strong increases in air temperature modify the characteristics of the Arctic snow and ice cover. The Arctic sea ice cover can be monitored by satellites observing the natural emission of the Earth's surface. In this study, we show that during warm air intrusions the change in the snow characteristics influences the satellite-derived sea ice cover, leading to a false reduction of the estimated ice area.
Isolde A. Glissenaar, Jack C. Landy, David G. Babb, Geoffrey J. Dawson, and Stephen E. L. Howell
The Cryosphere, 17, 3269–3289, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3269-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3269-2023, 2023
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Observations of large-scale ice thickness have unfortunately only been available since 2003, a short record for researching trends and variability. We generated a proxy for sea ice thickness in the Canadian Arctic for 1996–2020. This is the longest available record for large-scale sea ice thickness available to date and the first record reliably covering the channels between the islands in northern Canada. The product shows that sea ice has thinned by 21 cm over the 25-year record in April.
Julia Kaltenborn, Amy R. Macfarlane, Viviane Clay, and Martin Schneebeli
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4521–4550, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4521-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4521-2023, 2023
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Snow layer segmentation and snow grain classification are essential diagnostic tasks for cryospheric applications. A SnowMicroPen (SMP) can be used to that end; however, the manual classification of its profiles becomes infeasible for large datasets. Here, we evaluate how well machine learning models automate this task. Of the 14 models trained on the MOSAiC SMP dataset, the long short-term memory model performed the best. The findings presented here facilitate and accelerate SMP data analysis.
Marie Dumont, Simon Gascoin, Marion Réveillet, Didier Voisin, François Tuzet, Laurent Arnaud, Mylène Bonnefoy, Montse Bacardit Peñarroya, Carlo Carmagnola, Alexandre Deguine, Aurélie Diacre, Lukas Dürr, Olivier Evrard, Firmin Fontaine, Amaury Frankl, Mathieu Fructus, Laure Gandois, Isabelle Gouttevin, Abdelfateh Gherab, Pascal Hagenmuller, Sophia Hansson, Hervé Herbin, Béatrice Josse, Bruno Jourdain, Irene Lefevre, Gaël Le Roux, Quentin Libois, Lucie Liger, Samuel Morin, Denis Petitprez, Alvaro Robledano, Martin Schneebeli, Pascal Salze, Delphine Six, Emmanuel Thibert, Jürg Trachsel, Matthieu Vernay, Léo Viallon-Galinier, and Céline Voiron
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3075–3094, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3075-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3075-2023, 2023
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Saharan dust outbreaks have profound effects on ecosystems, climate, health, and the cryosphere, but the spatial deposition pattern of Saharan dust is poorly known. Following the extreme dust deposition event of February 2021 across Europe, a citizen science campaign was launched to sample dust on snow over the Pyrenees and the European Alps. This campaign triggered wide interest and over 100 samples. The samples revealed the high variability of the dust properties within a single event.
Julia Martin and Martin Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 17, 1723–1734, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1723-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1723-2023, 2023
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The grain size of snow determines how light is reflected and other physical properties. The IceCube measures snow grain size at the specific near-infrared wavelength of 1320 nm. In our study, the preparation of snow samples for the IceCube creates a thin layer of small particles. Comparisons of the grain size with computed tomography, particle counting and numerical simulation confirm the aforementioned observation. We conclude that measurements at this wavelength underestimate the grain size.
Maria Shaposhnikova, Claude Duguay, and Pascale Roy-Léveillée
The Cryosphere, 17, 1697–1721, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1697-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1697-2023, 2023
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We explore lake ice in the Old Crow Flats, Yukon, Canada, using a novel approach that employs radar imagery and deep learning. Results indicate an 11 % increase in the fraction of lake ice that grounds between 1992/1993 and 2020/2021. We believe this is caused by widespread lake drainage and fluctuations in water level and snow depth. This transition is likely to have implications for permafrost beneath the lakes, with a potential impact on methane ebullition and the regional carbon budget.
Karina von Schuckmann, Audrey Minière, Flora Gues, Francisco José Cuesta-Valero, Gottfried Kirchengast, Susheel Adusumilli, Fiammetta Straneo, Michaël Ablain, Richard P. Allan, Paul M. Barker, Hugo Beltrami, Alejandro Blazquez, Tim Boyer, Lijing Cheng, John Church, Damien Desbruyeres, Han Dolman, Catia M. Domingues, Almudena García-García, Donata Giglio, John E. Gilson, Maximilian Gorfer, Leopold Haimberger, Maria Z. Hakuba, Stefan Hendricks, Shigeki Hosoda, Gregory C. Johnson, Rachel Killick, Brian King, Nicolas Kolodziejczyk, Anton Korosov, Gerhard Krinner, Mikael Kuusela, Felix W. Landerer, Moritz Langer, Thomas Lavergne, Isobel Lawrence, Yuehua Li, John Lyman, Florence Marti, Ben Marzeion, Michael Mayer, Andrew H. MacDougall, Trevor McDougall, Didier Paolo Monselesan, Jan Nitzbon, Inès Otosaka, Jian Peng, Sarah Purkey, Dean Roemmich, Kanako Sato, Katsunari Sato, Abhishek Savita, Axel Schweiger, Andrew Shepherd, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Leon Simons, Donald A. Slater, Thomas Slater, Andrea K. Steiner, Toshio Suga, Tanguy Szekely, Wim Thiery, Mary-Louise Timmermans, Inne Vanderkelen, Susan E. Wjiffels, Tonghua Wu, and Michael Zemp
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1675–1709, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023, 2023
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Earth's climate is out of energy balance, and this study quantifies how much heat has consequently accumulated over the past decades (ocean: 89 %, land: 6 %, cryosphere: 4 %, atmosphere: 1 %). Since 1971, this accumulated heat reached record values at an increasing pace. The Earth heat inventory provides a comprehensive view on the status and expectation of global warming, and we call for an implementation of this global climate indicator into the Paris Agreement’s Global Stocktake.
Nikolas O. Aksamit, Randall K. Scharien, Jennifer K. Hutchings, and Jennifer V. Lukovich
The Cryosphere, 17, 1545–1566, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1545-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1545-2023, 2023
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Coherent flow patterns in sea ice have a significant influence on sea ice fracture and refreezing. We can better understand the state of sea ice, and its influence on the atmosphere and ocean, if we understand these structures. By adapting recent developments in chaotic dynamical systems, we are able to approximate ice stretching surrounding individual ice buoys. This illuminates the state of sea ice at much higher resolution and allows us to see previously invisible ice deformation patterns.
Robert Ricker, Steven Fons, Arttu Jutila, Nils Hutter, Kyle Duncan, Sinead L. Farrell, Nathan T. Kurtz, and Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen
The Cryosphere, 17, 1411–1429, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1411-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1411-2023, 2023
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Information on sea ice surface topography is important for studies of sea ice as well as for ship navigation through ice. The ICESat-2 satellite senses the sea ice surface with six laser beams. To examine the accuracy of these measurements, we carried out a temporally coincident helicopter flight along the same ground track as the satellite and measured the sea ice surface topography with a laser scanner. This showed that ICESat-2 can see even bumps of only few meters in the sea ice cover.
Wenkai Guo, Polona Itkin, Suman Singha, Anthony P. Doulgeris, Malin Johansson, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 17, 1279–1297, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1279-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1279-2023, 2023
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Sea ice maps are produced to cover the MOSAiC Arctic expedition (2019–2020) and divide sea ice into scientifically meaningful classes. We use a high-resolution X-band synthetic aperture radar dataset and show how image brightness and texture systematically vary across the images. We use an algorithm that reliably corrects this effect and achieve good results, as evaluated by comparisons to ground observations and other studies. The sea ice maps are useful as a basis for future MOSAiC studies.
Ruibo Lei, Mario Hoppmann, Bin Cheng, Marcel Nicolaus, Fanyi Zhang, Benjamin Rabe, Long Lin, Julia Regnery, and Donald K. Perovich
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-25, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-25, 2023
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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To characterize the freezing and melting of different types of sea ice, we deployed four IMBs during the MOSAiC second drift. The drifting pattern, together with a large snow accumulation, relatively warm air temperatures, and a rapid increase in oceanic heat close to Fram Strait, determined the seasonal evolution of the ice mass balance. The refreezing of ponded ice and voids within the unconsolidated ridges amplifies the anisotropy of the heat exchange between the ice and the atmosphere/ocean.
Felix L. Müller, Stephan Paul, Stefan Hendricks, and Denise Dettmering
The Cryosphere, 17, 809–825, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-809-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-809-2023, 2023
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Thinning sea ice has significant impacts on the energy exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean. In this study we present visual and quantitative comparisons of thin-ice detections obtained from classified Cryosat-2 radar reflections and thin-ice-thickness estimates derived from MODIS thermal-infrared imagery. In addition to good comparability, the results of the study indicate the potential for a deeper understanding of sea ice in the polar seas and improved processing of altimeter data.
Guillaume Boutin, Einar Ólason, Pierre Rampal, Heather Regan, Camille Lique, Claude Talandier, Laurent Brodeau, and Robert Ricker
The Cryosphere, 17, 617–638, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-617-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-617-2023, 2023
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Sea ice cover in the Arctic is full of cracks, which we call leads. We suspect that these leads play a role for atmosphere–ocean interactions in polar regions, but their importance remains challenging to estimate. We use a new ocean–sea ice model with an original way of representing sea ice dynamics to estimate their impact on winter sea ice production. This model successfully represents sea ice evolution from 2000 to 2018, and we find that about 30 % of ice production takes place in leads.
Younjoo J. Lee, Wieslaw Maslowski, John J. Cassano, Jaclyn Clement Kinney, Anthony P. Craig, Samy Kamal, Robert Osinski, Mark W. Seefeldt, Julienne Stroeve, and Hailong Wang
The Cryosphere, 17, 233–253, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-233-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-233-2023, 2023
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During 1979–2020, four winter polynyas occurred in December 1986 and February 2011, 2017, and 2018 north of Greenland. Instead of ice melting due to the anomalous warm air intrusion, the extreme wind forcing resulted in greater ice transport offshore. Based on the two ensemble runs, representing a 1980s thicker ice vs. a 2010s thinner ice, a dominant cause of these winter polynyas stems from internal variability of atmospheric forcing rather than from the forced response to a warming climate.
Christian Melsheimer, Gunnar Spreen, Yufang Ye, and Mohammed Shokr
The Cryosphere, 17, 105–126, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-105-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-105-2023, 2023
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It is necessary to know the type of Antarctic sea ice present – first-year ice (grown in one season) or multiyear ice (survived one summer melt) – to understand and model its evolution, as the ice types behave and react differently. We have adapted and extended an existing method (originally for the Arctic), and now, for the first time, daily maps of Antarctic sea ice types can be derived from microwave satellite data. This will allow a new data set from 2002 well into the future to be built.
Francesca Doglioni, Robert Ricker, Benjamin Rabe, Alexander Barth, Charles Troupin, and Torsten Kanzow
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 225–263, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-225-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-225-2023, 2023
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This paper presents a new satellite-derived gridded dataset, including 10 years of sea surface height and geostrophic velocity at monthly resolution, over the Arctic ice-covered and ice-free regions, up to 88° N. We assess the dataset by comparison to independent satellite and mooring data. Results correlate well with independent satellite data at monthly timescales, and the geostrophic velocity fields can resolve seasonal to interannual variability of boundary currents wider than about 50 km.
Long Lin, Ruibo Lei, Mario Hoppmann, Donald K. Perovich, and Hailun He
The Cryosphere, 16, 4779–4796, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4779-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4779-2022, 2022
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Ice mass balance observations indicated that average basal melt onset was comparable in the central Arctic Ocean and approximately 17 d earlier than surface melt in the Beaufort Gyre. The average onset of basal growth lagged behind the surface of the pan-Arctic Ocean for almost 3 months. In the Beaufort Gyre, both drifting-buoy observations and fixed-point observations exhibit a trend towards earlier basal melt onset, which can be ascribed to the earlier warming of the surface ocean.
Mario Hoppmann, Ivan Kuznetsov, Ying-Chih Fang, and Benjamin Rabe
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4901–4921, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4901-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4901-2022, 2022
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The role of eddies and fronts in the oceans is a hot topic in climate research, but there are still many related knowledge gaps, particularly in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean. Here we present a unique dataset of ocean observations collected by a set of drifting buoys installed on ice floes as part of the 2019/2020 MOSAiC campaign. The buoys recorded temperature and salinity data for 10 months, providing extraordinary insights into the properties and processes of the ocean along their drift.
Sergei Kirillov, Igor Dmitrenko, David G. Babb, Jens K. Ehn, Nikolay Koldunov, Søren Rysgaard, David Jensen, and David G. Barber
Ocean Sci., 18, 1535–1557, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1535-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1535-2022, 2022
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The sea ice bridge usually forms during winter in Nares Strait and prevents ice drifting south. However, this bridge has recently become unstable, and in this study we investigate the role of oceanic heat flux in this decline. Using satellite data, we identify areas where sea ice is relatively thin and further attribute those areas to the heat fluxes from the warm subsurface water masses. We also discuss the potential role of such an impact on ice bridge instability and earlier ice break up.
Jinfei Wang, Chao Min, Robert Ricker, Qian Shi, Bo Han, Stefan Hendricks, Renhao Wu, and Qinghua Yang
The Cryosphere, 16, 4473–4490, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4473-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4473-2022, 2022
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The differences between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness (SIT) reveal significant temporal and spatial variations. Our findings suggest that both overestimation of Envisat sea ice freeboard, potentially caused by radar backscatter originating from inside the snow layer, and the AMSR-E snow depth biases and sea ice density uncertainties can possibly account for the differences between Envisat and ICESat SIT.
Julienne Stroeve, Vishnu Nandan, Rosemary Willatt, Ruzica Dadic, Philip Rostosky, Michael Gallagher, Robbie Mallett, Andrew Barrett, Stefan Hendricks, Rasmus Tonboe, Michelle McCrystall, Mark Serreze, Linda Thielke, Gunnar Spreen, Thomas Newman, John Yackel, Robert Ricker, Michel Tsamados, Amy Macfarlane, Henna-Reetta Hannula, and Martin Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 16, 4223–4250, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4223-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4223-2022, 2022
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Impacts of rain on snow (ROS) on satellite-retrieved sea ice variables remain to be fully understood. This study evaluates the impacts of ROS over sea ice on active and passive microwave data collected during the 2019–20 MOSAiC expedition. Rainfall and subsequent refreezing of the snowpack significantly altered emitted and backscattered radar energy, laying important groundwork for understanding their impacts on operational satellite retrievals of various sea ice geophysical variables.
Brent G. T. Else, Araleigh Cranch, Richard P. Sims, Samantha Jones, Laura A. Dalman, Christopher J. Mundy, Rebecca A. Segal, Randall K. Scharien, and Tania Guha
The Cryosphere, 16, 3685–3701, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3685-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3685-2022, 2022
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Sea ice helps control how much carbon dioxide polar oceans absorb. We compared ice cores from two sites to look for differences in carbon chemistry: one site had thin ice due to strong ocean currents and thick snow; the other site had thick ice, thin snow, and weak currents. We did find some differences in small layers near the top and the bottom of the cores, but for most of the ice volume the chemistry was the same. This result will help build better models of the carbon sink in polar oceans.
Océane Hames, Mahdi Jafari, David Nicholas Wagner, Ian Raphael, David Clemens-Sewall, Chris Polashenski, Matthew D. Shupe, Martin Schneebeli, and Michael Lehning
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6429–6449, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6429-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6429-2022, 2022
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This paper presents an Eulerian–Lagrangian snow transport model implemented in the fluid dynamics software OpenFOAM, which we call snowBedFoam 1.0. We apply this model to reproduce snow deposition on a piece of ridged Arctic sea ice, which was produced during the MOSAiC expedition through scan measurements. The model appears to successfully reproduce the enhanced snow accumulation and deposition patterns, although some quantitative uncertainties were shown.
Yu Cai, Claude R. Duguay, and Chang-Qing Ke
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 3329–3347, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3329-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3329-2022, 2022
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Seasonal ice cover is one of the important attributes of lakes in middle- and high-latitude regions. This study used passive microwave brightness temperature measurements to extract the ice phenology for 56 lakes across the Northern Hemisphere from 1979 to 2019. A threshold algorithm was applied according to the differences in brightness temperature between lake ice and open water. The dataset will provide valuable information about the changing ice cover of lakes over the last 4 decades.
Assia Arouf, Hélène Chepfer, Thibault Vaillant de Guélis, Marjolaine Chiriaco, Matthew D. Shupe, Rodrigo Guzman, Artem Feofilov, Patrick Raberanto, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Seiji Kato, and Michael R. Gallagher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3893–3923, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3893-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3893-2022, 2022
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We proposed new estimates of the surface longwave (LW) cloud radiative effect (CRE) derived from observations collected by a space-based lidar on board the CALIPSO satellite and radiative transfer computations. Our estimate appropriately captures the surface LW CRE annual variability over bright polar surfaces, and it provides a dataset more than 13 years long.
David N. Wagner, Matthew D. Shupe, Christopher Cox, Ola G. Persson, Taneil Uttal, Markus M. Frey, Amélie Kirchgaessner, Martin Schneebeli, Matthias Jaggi, Amy R. Macfarlane, Polona Itkin, Stefanie Arndt, Stefan Hendricks, Daniela Krampe, Marcel Nicolaus, Robert Ricker, Julia Regnery, Nikolai Kolabutin, Egor Shimanshuck, Marc Oggier, Ian Raphael, Julienne Stroeve, and Michael Lehning
The Cryosphere, 16, 2373–2402, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2373-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2373-2022, 2022
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Based on measurements of the snow cover over sea ice and atmospheric measurements, we estimate snowfall and snow accumulation for the MOSAiC ice floe, between November 2019 and May 2020. For this period, we estimate 98–114 mm of precipitation. We suggest that about 34 mm of snow water equivalent accumulated until the end of April 2020 and that at least about 50 % of the precipitated snow was eroded or sublimated. Further, we suggest explanations for potential snowfall overestimation.
William Gregory, Julienne Stroeve, and Michel Tsamados
The Cryosphere, 16, 1653–1673, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1653-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1653-2022, 2022
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This research was conducted to better understand how coupled climate models simulate one of the large-scale interactions between the atmosphere and Arctic sea ice that we see in observational data, the accurate representation of which is important for producing reliable forecasts of Arctic sea ice on seasonal to inter-annual timescales. With network theory, this work shows that models do not reflect this interaction well on average, which is likely due to regional biases in sea ice thickness.
Klaus Dethloff, Wieslaw Maslowski, Stefan Hendricks, Younjoo J. Lee, Helge F. Goessling, Thomas Krumpen, Christian Haas, Dörthe Handorf, Robert Ricker, Vladimir Bessonov, John J. Cassano, Jaclyn Clement Kinney, Robert Osinski, Markus Rex, Annette Rinke, Julia Sokolova, and Anja Sommerfeld
The Cryosphere, 16, 981–1005, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-981-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-981-2022, 2022
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Sea ice thickness anomalies during the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) winter in January, February and March 2020 were simulated with the coupled Regional Arctic climate System Model (RASM) and compared with CryoSat-2/SMOS satellite data. Hindcast and ensemble simulations indicate that the sea ice anomalies are driven by nonlinear interactions between ice growth processes and wind-driven sea-ice transports, with dynamics playing a dominant role.
Alexander Mchedlishvili, Gunnar Spreen, Christian Melsheimer, and Marcus Huntemann
The Cryosphere, 16, 471–487, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-471-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-471-2022, 2022
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In this paper we show that the activity leading to the open-ocean polynyas near the Maud Rise seamount that have occurred repeatedly from 1974–1976 as well as 2016–2017 does not simply stop for polynya-free years. Using apparent sea ice thickness retrieval, we have identified anomalies where there is thinning of sea ice on a scale that is comparable to that of the polynya events of 2016–2017. These anomalies took place in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2018.
Michael R. Gallagher, Matthew D. Shupe, Hélène Chepfer, and Tristan L'Ecuyer
The Cryosphere, 16, 435–450, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-435-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-435-2022, 2022
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By using direct observations of snowfall and mass changes, the variability of daily snowfall mass input to the Greenland ice sheet is quantified for the first time. With new methods we conclude that cyclones west of Greenland in summer contribute the most snowfall, with 1.66 Gt per occurrence. These cyclones are contextualized in the broader Greenland climate, and snowfall is validated against mass changes to verify the results. Snowfall and mass change observations are shown to agree well.
Stefan Kern, Thomas Lavergne, Leif Toudal Pedersen, Rasmus Tage Tonboe, Louisa Bell, Maybritt Meyer, and Luise Zeigermann
The Cryosphere, 16, 349–378, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-349-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-349-2022, 2022
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High-resolution clear-sky optical satellite imagery has rarely been used to evaluate satellite passive microwave sea-ice concentration products beyond case-study level. By comparing 10 such products with sea-ice concentration estimated from > 350 such optical images in both hemispheres, we expand results of earlier evaluation studies for these products. Results stress the need to look beyond precision and accuracy and to discuss the evaluation data’s quality and filters applied in the products.
Arttu Jutila, Stefan Hendricks, Robert Ricker, Luisa von Albedyll, Thomas Krumpen, and Christian Haas
The Cryosphere, 16, 259–275, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-259-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-259-2022, 2022
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Sea-ice thickness retrieval from satellite altimeters relies on assumed sea-ice density values because density cannot be measured from space. We derived bulk densities for different ice types using airborne laser, radar, and electromagnetic induction sounding measurements. Compared to previous studies, we found high bulk density values due to ice deformation and younger ice cover. Using sea-ice freeboard, we derived a sea-ice bulk density parameterisation that can be applied to satellite data.
Florent Garnier, Sara Fleury, Gilles Garric, Jérôme Bouffard, Michel Tsamados, Antoine Laforge, Marion Bocquet, Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, and Frédérique Remy
The Cryosphere, 15, 5483–5512, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5483-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5483-2021, 2021
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Snow depth data are essential to monitor the impacts of climate change on sea ice volume variations and their impacts on the climate system. For that purpose, we present and assess the altimetric snow depth product, computed in both hemispheres from CryoSat-2 and SARAL satellite data. The use of these data instead of the common climatology reduces the sea ice thickness by about 30 cm over the 2013–2019 period. These data are also crucial to argue for the launch of the CRISTAL satellite mission.
Elena Zakharova, Svetlana Agafonova, Claude Duguay, Natalia Frolova, and Alexei Kouraev
The Cryosphere, 15, 5387–5407, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5387-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5387-2021, 2021
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The paper investigates the performance of altimetric satellite instruments to detect river ice onset and melting dates and to retrieve ice thickness of the Ob River. This is a first attempt to use satellite altimetry for monitoring ice in the challenging conditions restrained by the object size. A novel approach permitted elaboration of the spatiotemporal ice thickness product for the 400 km river reach. The potential of the product for prediction of ice road operation was demonstrated.
Marika M. Holland, David Clemens-Sewall, Laura Landrum, Bonnie Light, Donald Perovich, Chris Polashenski, Madison Smith, and Melinda Webster
The Cryosphere, 15, 4981–4998, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4981-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4981-2021, 2021
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As the most reflective and most insulative natural material, snow has important climate effects. For snow on sea ice, its high reflectivity reduces ice melt. However, its high insulating capacity limits ice growth. These counteracting effects make its net influence on sea ice uncertain. We find that with increasing snow, sea ice in both hemispheres is thicker and more extensive. However, the drivers of this response are different in the two hemispheres due to different climate conditions.
Isolde A. Glissenaar, Jack C. Landy, Alek A. Petty, Nathan T. Kurtz, and Julienne C. Stroeve
The Cryosphere, 15, 4909–4927, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4909-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4909-2021, 2021
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Scientists can estimate sea ice thickness using satellites that measure surface height. To determine the sea ice thickness, we also need to know the snow depth and density. This paper shows that the chosen snow depth product has a considerable impact on the findings of sea ice thickness state and trends in Baffin Bay, showing mean thinning with some snow depth products and mean thickening with others. This shows that it is important to better understand and monitor snow depth on sea ice.
Sönke Maus, Martin Schneebeli, and Andreas Wiegmann
The Cryosphere, 15, 4047–4072, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4047-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4047-2021, 2021
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As the hydraulic permeability of sea ice is difficult to measure, observations are sparse. The present work presents numerical simulations of the permeability of young sea ice based on a large set of 3D X-ray tomographic images. It extends the relationship between permeability and porosity available so far down to brine porosities near the percolation threshold of a few per cent. Evaluation of pore scales and 3D connectivity provides novel insight into the percolation behaviour of sea ice.
Thomas Krumpen, Luisa von Albedyll, Helge F. Goessling, Stefan Hendricks, Bennet Juhls, Gunnar Spreen, Sascha Willmes, H. Jakob Belter, Klaus Dethloff, Christian Haas, Lars Kaleschke, Christian Katlein, Xiangshan Tian-Kunze, Robert Ricker, Philip Rostosky, Janna Rückert, Suman Singha, and Julia Sokolova
The Cryosphere, 15, 3897–3920, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3897-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3897-2021, 2021
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We use satellite data records collected along the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) drift to categorize ice conditions that shaped and characterized the floe and surroundings during the expedition. A comparison with previous years is made whenever possible. The aim of this analysis is to provide a basis and reference for subsequent research in the six main research areas of atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, biogeochemistry, remote sensing and ecology.
Susanne Crewell, Kerstin Ebell, Patrick Konjari, Mario Mech, Tatiana Nomokonova, Ana Radovan, David Strack, Arantxa M. Triana-Gómez, Stefan Noël, Raul Scarlat, Gunnar Spreen, Marion Maturilli, Annette Rinke, Irina Gorodetskaya, Carolina Viceto, Thomas August, and Marc Schröder
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4829–4856, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4829-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4829-2021, 2021
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Water vapor (WV) is an important variable in the climate system. Satellite measurements are thus crucial to characterize the spatial and temporal variability in WV and how it changed over time. In particular with respect to the observed strong Arctic warming, the role of WV still needs to be better understood. However, as shown in this paper, a detailed understanding is still hampered by large uncertainties in the various satellite WV products, showing the need for improved methods to derive WV.
Marcel Kleinherenbrink, Anton Korosov, Thomas Newman, Andreas Theodosiou, Alexander S. Komarov, Yuanhao Li, Gert Mulder, Pierre Rampal, Julienne Stroeve, and Paco Lopez-Dekker
The Cryosphere, 15, 3101–3118, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3101-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3101-2021, 2021
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Harmony is one of the Earth Explorer 10 candidates that has the chance of being selected for launch in 2028. The mission consists of two satellites that fly in formation with Sentinel-1D, which carries a side-looking radar system. By receiving Sentinel-1's signals reflected from the surface, Harmony is able to observe instantaneous elevation and two-dimensional velocity at the surface. As such, Harmony's data allow the retrieval of sea-ice drift and wave spectra in sea-ice-covered regions.
Pia Nielsen-Englyst, Jacob L. Høyer, Kristine S. Madsen, Rasmus T. Tonboe, Gorm Dybkjær, and Sotirios Skarpalezos
The Cryosphere, 15, 3035–3057, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3035-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3035-2021, 2021
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The Arctic region is responding heavily to climate change, and yet, the air temperature of Arctic ice-covered areas is heavily under-sampled when it comes to in situ measurements. This paper presents a method for estimating daily mean 2 m air temperatures (T2m) in the Arctic from satellite observations of skin temperature, providing spatially detailed observations of the Arctic. The satellite-derived T2m product covers clear-sky snow and ice surfaces in the Arctic for the period 2000–2009.
William Gregory, Isobel R. Lawrence, and Michel Tsamados
The Cryosphere, 15, 2857–2871, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2857-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2857-2021, 2021
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Satellite measurements of radar freeboard allow us to compute the thickness of sea ice from space; however attaining measurements across the entire Arctic basin typically takes up to 30 d. Here we present a statistical method which allows us to combine observations from three separate satellites to generate daily estimates of radar freeboard across the Arctic Basin. This helps us understand how sea ice thickness is changing on shorter timescales and what may be causing these changes.
Anja Rösel, Sinead Louise Farrell, Vishnu Nandan, Jaqueline Richter-Menge, Gunnar Spreen, Dmitry V. Divine, Adam Steer, Jean-Charles Gallet, and Sebastian Gerland
The Cryosphere, 15, 2819–2833, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2819-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2819-2021, 2021
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Recent observations in the Arctic suggest a significant shift towards a snow–ice regime caused by deep snow on thin sea ice which may result in a flooding of the snowpack. These conditions cause the brine wicking and saturation of the basal snow layers which lead to a subsequent underestimation of snow depth from snow radar mesurements. As a consequence the calculated sea ice thickness will be biased towards higher values.
H. Jakob Belter, Thomas Krumpen, Luisa von Albedyll, Tatiana A. Alekseeva, Gerit Birnbaum, Sergei V. Frolov, Stefan Hendricks, Andreas Herber, Igor Polyakov, Ian Raphael, Robert Ricker, Sergei S. Serovetnikov, Melinda Webster, and Christian Haas
The Cryosphere, 15, 2575–2591, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2575-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2575-2021, 2021
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Summer sea ice thickness observations based on electromagnetic induction measurements north of Fram Strait show a 20 % reduction in mean and modal ice thickness from 2001–2020. The observed variability is caused by changes in drift speeds and consequential variations in sea ice age and number of freezing-degree days. Increased ocean heat fluxes measured upstream in the source regions of Arctic ice seem to precondition ice thickness, which is potentially still measurable more than a year later.
Robbie D. C. Mallett, Julienne C. Stroeve, Michel Tsamados, Jack C. Landy, Rosemary Willatt, Vishnu Nandan, and Glen E. Liston
The Cryosphere, 15, 2429–2450, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2429-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2429-2021, 2021
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We re-estimate pan-Arctic sea ice thickness (SIT) values by combining data from the Envisat and CryoSat-2 missions with data from a new, reanalysis-driven snow model. Because a decreasing amount of ice is being hidden below the waterline by the weight of overlying snow, we argue that SIT may be declining faster than previously calculated in some regions. Because the snow product varies from year to year, our new SIT calculations also display much more year-to-year variability.
Francesca Doglioni, Robert Ricker, Benjamin Rabe, and Torsten Kanzow
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-170, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-170, 2021
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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This paper presents a new satellite-derived gridded dataset of sea surface height and geostrophic velocity, over the Arctic ice-covered and ice-free regions up to 88° N. The dataset includes velocities north of 82° N, which were not available before. We assess the dataset by comparison to one independent satellite dataset and to independent mooring data. Results show that the geostrophic velocity fields can resolve seasonal to interannual variability of boundary currents wider than about 50 km.
Rasmus T. Tonboe, Vishnu Nandan, John Yackel, Stefan Kern, Leif Toudal Pedersen, and Julienne Stroeve
The Cryosphere, 15, 1811–1822, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1811-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1811-2021, 2021
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A relationship between the Ku-band radar scattering horizon and snow depth is found using a radar scattering model. This relationship has implications for (1) the use of snow climatology in the conversion of satellite radar freeboard into sea ice thickness and (2) the impact of variability in measured snow depth on the derived ice thickness. For both 1 and 2, the impact of using a snow climatology versus the actual snow depth is relatively small.
Daniela Krampe, Frank Kauker, Marie Dumont, and Andreas Herber
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-100, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-100, 2021
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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Reliable and detailed Arctic snow data are limited. Evaluation of the performance of atmospheric reanalysis compared to measurements in northeast Greenland generally show good agreement. Both data sets are applied to an Alpine snow model and the performance for Arctic conditions is investigated: Simulated snow depth evolution is reliable, but vertical snow profiles show weaknesses. These are smaller with an adapted parametrisation for the density of newly fallen snow for harsh Arctic conditions.
Yu Zhang, Tingting Zhu, Gunnar Spreen, Christian Melsheimer, Marcus Huntemann, Nick Hughes, Shengkai Zhang, and Fei Li
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-85, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-85, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
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We developed an algorithm for ice-water classification using Sentinel-1 data during melting seasons in the Fram Strait. The proposed algorithm has the OA of nearly 90 % with STD less than 10 %. The comparison of sea ice concentration demonstrate that it can provide detailed information of sea ice with the spatial resolution of 1km. The time series shows the average June to September sea ice area does not change so much in 2015–2017 and 2019–2020, but it has a significant decrease in 2018.
Stephan Paul and Marcus Huntemann
The Cryosphere, 15, 1551–1565, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1551-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1551-2021, 2021
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Cloud cover in the polar regions is difficult to identify at night when using only thermal-infrared data. This is due to occurrences of warm clouds over cold sea ice and cold clouds over warm sea ice. Especially the standard MODIS cloud mask frequently tends towards classifying open water and/or thin ice as cloud cover. Using a neural network, we present an improved discrimination between sea-ice, open-water and/or thin-ice, and cloud pixels in nighttime MODIS thermal-infrared satellite data.
Robbie D. C. Mallett
The Cryosphere, 15, 1453–1454, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1453-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1453-2021, 2021
Ruibo Lei, Mario Hoppmann, Bin Cheng, Guangyu Zuo, Dawei Gui, Qiongqiong Cai, H. Jakob Belter, and Wangxiao Yang
The Cryosphere, 15, 1321–1341, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1321-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1321-2021, 2021
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Quantification of ice deformation is useful for understanding of the role of ice dynamics in climate change. Using data of 32 buoys, we characterized spatiotemporal variations in ice kinematics and deformation in the Pacific sector of Arctic Ocean for autumn–winter 2018/19. Sea ice in the south and west has stronger mobility than in the east and north, which weakens from autumn to winter. An enhanced Arctic dipole and weakened Beaufort Gyre in winter lead to an obvious turning of ice drifting.
Lu Zhou, Julienne Stroeve, Shiming Xu, Alek Petty, Rachel Tilling, Mai Winstrup, Philip Rostosky, Isobel R. Lawrence, Glen E. Liston, Andy Ridout, Michel Tsamados, and Vishnu Nandan
The Cryosphere, 15, 345–367, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-345-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-345-2021, 2021
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Snow on sea ice plays an important role in the Arctic climate system. Large spatial and temporal discrepancies among the eight snow depth products are analyzed together with their seasonal variability and long-term trends. These snow products are further compared against various ground-truth observations. More analyses on representation error of sea ice parameters are needed for systematic comparison and fusion of airborne, in situ and remote sensing observations.
Masa Kageyama, Louise C. Sime, Marie Sicard, Maria-Vittoria Guarino, Anne de Vernal, Ruediger Stein, David Schroeder, Irene Malmierca-Vallet, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, Cecilia Bitz, Pascale Braconnot, Esther C. Brady, Jian Cao, Matthew A. Chamberlain, Danny Feltham, Chuncheng Guo, Allegra N. LeGrande, Gerrit Lohmann, Katrin J. Meissner, Laurie Menviel, Polina Morozova, Kerim H. Nisancioglu, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Ryouta O'ishi, Silvana Ramos Buarque, David Salas y Melia, Sam Sherriff-Tadano, Julienne Stroeve, Xiaoxu Shi, Bo Sun, Robert A. Tomas, Evgeny Volodin, Nicholas K. H. Yeung, Qiong Zhang, Zhongshi Zhang, Weipeng Zheng, and Tilo Ziehn
Clim. Past, 17, 37–62, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-37-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-37-2021, 2021
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The Last interglacial (ca. 127 000 years ago) is a period with increased summer insolation at high northern latitudes, resulting in a strong reduction in Arctic sea ice. The latest PMIP4-CMIP6 models all simulate this decrease, consistent with reconstructions. However, neither the models nor the reconstructions agree on the possibility of a seasonally ice-free Arctic. Work to clarify the reasons for this model divergence and the conflicting interpretations of the records will thus be needed.
Chao Min, Qinghua Yang, Longjiang Mu, Frank Kauker, and Robert Ricker
The Cryosphere, 15, 169–181, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-169-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-169-2021, 2021
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An ensemble of four estimates of the sea-ice volume (SIV) variations in Baffin Bay from 2011 to 2016 is generated from the locally merged satellite observations, three modeled sea ice thickness sources (CMST, NAOSIM, and PIOMAS) and NSIDC ice drift data (V4). Results show that the net increase of the ensemble mean SIV occurs from October to April with the largest SIV increase in December, and the reduction occurs from May to September with the largest SIV decline in July.
Christian Katlein, Lovro Valcic, Simon Lambert-Girard, and Mario Hoppmann
The Cryosphere, 15, 183–198, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-183-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-183-2021, 2021
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To improve autonomous investigations of sea ice optical properties, we designed a chain of multispectral light sensors, providing autonomous in-ice light measurements. Here we describe the system and the data acquired from a first prototype deployment. We show that sideward-looking planar irradiance sensors basically measure scalar irradiance and demonstrate the use of this sensor chain to derive light transmittance and inherent optical properties of sea ice.
Stephen E. L. Howell, Randall K. Scharien, Jack Landy, and Mike Brady
The Cryosphere, 14, 4675–4686, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4675-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4675-2020, 2020
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Melt ponds form on the surface of Arctic sea ice during spring and have been shown to exert a strong influence on summer sea ice area. Here, we use RADARSAT-2 satellite imagery to estimate the predicted peak spring melt pond fraction in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from 2009–2018. Our results show that RADARSAT-2 estimates of peak melt pond fraction can be used to provide predictive information about summer sea ice area within certain regions of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
Julienne Stroeve, Vishnu Nandan, Rosemary Willatt, Rasmus Tonboe, Stefan Hendricks, Robert Ricker, James Mead, Robbie Mallett, Marcus Huntemann, Polona Itkin, Martin Schneebeli, Daniela Krampe, Gunnar Spreen, Jeremy Wilkinson, Ilkka Matero, Mario Hoppmann, and Michel Tsamados
The Cryosphere, 14, 4405–4426, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4405-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4405-2020, 2020
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This study provides a first look at the data collected by a new dual-frequency Ka- and Ku-band in situ radar over winter sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The instrument shows potential for using both bands to retrieve snow depth over sea ice, as well as sensitivity of the measurements to changing snow and atmospheric conditions.
Larysa Istomina, Henrik Marks, Marcus Huntemann, Georg Heygster, and Gunnar Spreen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6459–6472, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6459-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6459-2020, 2020
Ingmar Nitze, Sarah W. Cooley, Claude R. Duguay, Benjamin M. Jones, and Guido Grosse
The Cryosphere, 14, 4279–4297, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4279-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4279-2020, 2020
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In summer 2018, northwestern Alaska was affected by widespread lake drainage which strongly exceeded previous observations. We analyzed the spatial and temporal patterns with remote sensing observations, weather data and lake-ice simulations. The preceding fall and winter season was the second warmest and wettest on record, causing the destabilization of permafrost and elevated water levels which likely led to widespread and rapid lake drainage during or right after ice breakup.
Jacinta Edebeli, Jürg C. Trachsel, Sven E. Avak, Markus Ammann, Martin Schneebeli, Anja Eichler, and Thorsten Bartels-Rausch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13443–13454, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13443-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13443-2020, 2020
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Earth’s snow cover is very dynamic and can change its physical properties within hours, as is well known by skiers. Snow is also a well-known host of chemical reactions – the products of which impact air composition and quality. Here, we present laboratory experiments that show how the dynamics of snow make snow essentially inert with respect to gas-phase ozone with time despite its content of reactive chemicals. Impacts on polar atmospheric chemistry are discussed.
Hoyeon Shi, Byung-Ju Sohn, Gorm Dybkjær, Rasmus Tage Tonboe, and Sang-Moo Lee
The Cryosphere, 14, 3761–3783, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3761-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3761-2020, 2020
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To estimate sea ice thickness from satellite freeboard measurements, snow depth information has been required; however, the snow depth estimate has been considered largely uncertain. We propose a new method to estimate sea ice thickness and snow depth simultaneously from freeboards by imposing a thermodynamic constraint. Obtained ice thicknesses and snow depths were consistent with airborne measurements, suggesting that uncertainty of ice thickness caused by uncertain snow depth can be reduced.
Stefanie Arndt, Mario Hoppmann, Holger Schmithüsen, Alexander D. Fraser, and Marcel Nicolaus
The Cryosphere, 14, 2775–2793, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2775-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2775-2020, 2020
Stefan Kern, Thomas Lavergne, Dirk Notz, Leif Toudal Pedersen, and Rasmus Tonboe
The Cryosphere, 14, 2469–2493, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2469-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2469-2020, 2020
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Arctic sea-ice concentration (SIC) estimates based on satellite passive microwave observations are highly inaccurate during summer melt. We compare 10 different SIC products with independent satellite data of true SIC and melt pond fraction (MPF). All products disagree with the true SIC. Regional and inter-product differences can be large and depend on the MPF. An inadequate treatment of melting snow and melt ponds in the products’ algorithms appears to be the main explanation for our findings.
Clara Burgard, Dirk Notz, Leif T. Pedersen, and Rasmus T. Tonboe
The Cryosphere, 14, 2369–2386, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2369-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2369-2020, 2020
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The high disagreement between observations of Arctic sea ice makes it difficult to evaluate climate models with observations. We investigate the possibility of translating the model state into what a satellite could observe. We find that we do not need complex information about the vertical distribution of temperature and salinity inside the ice but instead are able to assume simplified distributions to reasonably translate the simulated sea ice into satellite
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Clara Burgard, Dirk Notz, Leif T. Pedersen, and Rasmus T. Tonboe
The Cryosphere, 14, 2387–2407, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2387-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2387-2020, 2020
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The high disagreement between observations of Arctic sea ice inhibits the evaluation of climate models with observations. We develop a tool that translates the simulated Arctic Ocean state into what a satellite could observe from space in the form of brightness temperatures, a measure for the radiation emitted by the surface. We find that the simulated brightness temperatures compare well with the observed brightness temperatures. This tool brings a new perspective for climate model evaluation.
Michael Kern, Robert Cullen, Bruno Berruti, Jerome Bouffard, Tania Casal, Mark R. Drinkwater, Antonio Gabriele, Arnaud Lecuyot, Michael Ludwig, Rolv Midthassel, Ignacio Navas Traver, Tommaso Parrinello, Gerhard Ressler, Erik Andersson, Cristina Martin-Puig, Ole Andersen, Annett Bartsch, Sinead Farrell, Sara Fleury, Simon Gascoin, Amandine Guillot, Angelika Humbert, Eero Rinne, Andrew Shepherd, Michiel R. van den Broeke, and John Yackel
The Cryosphere, 14, 2235–2251, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2235-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2235-2020, 2020
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The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter will provide high-resolution sea ice thickness and land ice elevation measurements and the capability to determine the properties of snow cover on ice to serve operational products and services of direct relevance to the polar regions. This paper describes the mission objectives, identifies the key contributions the CRISTAL mission will make, and presents a concept – as far as it is already defined – for the mission payload.
Arantxa M. Triana-Gómez, Georg Heygster, Christian Melsheimer, Gunnar Spreen, Monia Negusini, and Boyan H. Petkov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3697–3715, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3697-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3697-2020, 2020
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In the Arctic, in situ measurements are sparse and standard remote sensing retrieval methods have problems. We present advances in a retrieval algorithm for vertically integrated water vapour tuned for polar regions. In addition to the initial sensor used (AMSU-B), we can now also use data from the successor instrument (MHS). Additionally, certain artefacts are now filtered out. Comparison with radiosondes shows the overall good performance of the updated algorithm.
H. Jakob Belter, Thomas Krumpen, Stefan Hendricks, Jens Hoelemann, Markus A. Janout, Robert Ricker, and Christian Haas
The Cryosphere, 14, 2189–2203, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2189-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2189-2020, 2020
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The validation of satellite sea ice thickness (SIT) climate data records with newly acquired moored sonar SIT data shows that satellite products provide modal rather than mean SIT in the Laptev Sea region. This tendency of satellite-based SIT products to underestimate mean SIT needs to be considered for investigations of sea ice volume transports. Validation of satellite SIT in the first-year-ice-dominated Laptev Sea will support algorithm development for more reliable SIT records in the Arctic.
Thomas Krumpen, Florent Birrien, Frank Kauker, Thomas Rackow, Luisa von Albedyll, Michael Angelopoulos, H. Jakob Belter, Vladimir Bessonov, Ellen Damm, Klaus Dethloff, Jari Haapala, Christian Haas, Carolynn Harris, Stefan Hendricks, Jens Hoelemann, Mario Hoppmann, Lars Kaleschke, Michael Karcher, Nikolai Kolabutin, Ruibo Lei, Josefine Lenz, Anne Morgenstern, Marcel Nicolaus, Uwe Nixdorf, Tomash Petrovsky, Benjamin Rabe, Lasse Rabenstein, Markus Rex, Robert Ricker, Jan Rohde, Egor Shimanchuk, Suman Singha, Vasily Smolyanitsky, Vladimir Sokolov, Tim Stanton, Anna Timofeeva, Michel Tsamados, and Daniel Watkins
The Cryosphere, 14, 2173–2187, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2173-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2173-2020, 2020
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In October 2019 the research vessel Polarstern was moored to an ice floe in order to travel with it on the 1-year-long MOSAiC journey through the Arctic. Here we provide historical context of the floe's evolution and initial state for upcoming studies. We show that the ice encountered on site was exceptionally thin and was formed on the shallow Siberian shelf. The analyses presented provide the initial state for the analysis and interpretation of upcoming biogeochemical and ecological studies.
Marco Meloni, Jerome Bouffard, Tommaso Parrinello, Geoffrey Dawson, Florent Garnier, Veit Helm, Alessandro Di Bella, Stefan Hendricks, Robert Ricker, Erica Webb, Ben Wright, Karina Nielsen, Sanggyun Lee, Marcello Passaro, Michele Scagliola, Sebastian Bjerregaard Simonsen, Louise Sandberg Sørensen, David Brockley, Steven Baker, Sara Fleury, Jonathan Bamber, Luca Maestri, Henriette Skourup, René Forsberg, and Loretta Mizzi
The Cryosphere, 14, 1889–1907, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1889-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1889-2020, 2020
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This manuscript aims to describe the evolutions which have been implemented in the new CryoSat Ice processing chain Baseline-D and the validation activities carried out in different domains such as sea ice, land ice and hydrology.
This new CryoSat processing Baseline-D will maximise the uptake and use of CryoSat data by scientific users since it offers improved capability for monitoring the complex and multiscale changes over the cryosphere.
Neige Calonne, Bettina Richter, Henning Löwe, Cecilia Cetti, Judith ter Schure, Alec Van Herwijnen, Charles Fierz, Matthias Jaggi, and Martin Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 14, 1829–1848, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1829-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1829-2020, 2020
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During winter 2015–2016, the standard program to monitor the structure and stability of the snowpack at Weissflujoch, Swiss Alps, was complemented by additional measurements to compare between various traditional and newly developed techniques. Snow micro-penetrometer measurements allowed monitoring of the evolution of the snowpack's internal structure at a daily resolution throughout the winter. We show the potential of such high-resolution data for detailed evaluations of snowpack models.
Xiaoyong Yu, Annette Rinke, Wolfgang Dorn, Gunnar Spreen, Christof Lüpkes, Hiroshi Sumata, and Vladimir M. Gryanik
The Cryosphere, 14, 1727–1746, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1727-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1727-2020, 2020
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This study presents an evaluation of Arctic sea ice drift speed for the period 2003–2014 in a state-of-the-art coupled regional model for the Arctic, called HIRHAM–NAOSIM. In particular, the dependency of the drift speed on the near-surface wind speed and sea ice conditions is presented. Effects of sea ice form drag included by an improved parameterization of the transfer coefficients for momentum and heat over sea ice are discussed.
Pirmin Philipp Ebner, Aaron Coulin, Joël Borner, Fabian Wolfsperger, Michael Hohl, and Martin Schneebeli
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-56, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-56, 2020
Revised manuscript not accepted
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These laboratory measurements allow to analyse wet snow and to find the narrow range of the starting point of water percolation in coarse-grained snow. Based on the electrical monitoring a promising perspective for retrieving water content and water distribution in the snowpack is given. The water distribution is analysed using micro-computer tomography to find preferential spots of the accumulated water. These findings are pertinent to the interpretation of the snow melt run-off of spring snow.
Jinfei Wang, Chao Min, Robert Ricker, Qinghua Yang, Qian Shi, Bo Han, and Stefan Hendricks
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-48, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-48, 2020
Revised manuscript not accepted
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To get a better understanding of the characteristics of the newly-released Envisat sea ice data in the Antarctic, we firstly conduct a comprehensive comparison between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness. Their deviations are different considering different seasons, years and regions. Potential reasons mainly deduce from the limitations of radar altimeter, the surface roughness and different retrieval algorithms. The smaller deviation in spring has a potential relation with relative humidity.
Maciej Miernecki, Lars Kaleschke, Nina Maaß, Stefan Hendricks, and Sten Schmidl Søbjærg
The Cryosphere, 14, 461–476, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-461-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-461-2020, 2020
Valeria Selyuzhenok, Igor Bashmachnikov, Robert Ricker, Anna Vesman, and Leonid Bobylev
The Cryosphere, 14, 477–495, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-477-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-477-2020, 2020
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This study explores a link between the long-term variations in the integral sea ice volume in the Greenland Sea and oceanic processes. We link the changes in the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) regional sea ice volume with the mixed layer, depth and upper-ocean heat content derived using the ARMOR dataset.
Achim Heilig, Olaf Eisen, Martin Schneebeli, Michael MacFerrin, C. Max Stevens, Baptiste Vandecrux, and Konrad Steffen
The Cryosphere, 14, 385–402, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-385-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-385-2020, 2020
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We investigate the spatial representativeness of point observations of snow accumulation in SW Greenland. Such analyses have rarely been conducted but are necessary to link regional-scale observations from, e.g., remote-sensing data to firn cores and snow pits. The presented data reveal a low regional variability in density but snow depth can vary significantly. It is necessary to combine pits with spatial snow depth data to increase the regional representativeness of accumulation observations.
Robbie D. C. Mallett, Isobel R. Lawrence, Julienne C. Stroeve, Jack C. Landy, and Michel Tsamados
The Cryosphere, 14, 251–260, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-251-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-251-2020, 2020
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Soils store large carbon and are important for global warming. We do not know what factors are important for soil carbon storage in the alpine Andes and how they work. We studied how rainfall affects soil carbon storage related to soil structure. We found soil structure is not important, but soil carbon storage and stability controlled by rainfall are dependent on rocks under the soils. The results indicate that we should pay attention to the rocks when studying soil carbon storage in the Andes.
Christine Pohl, Larysa Istomina, Steffen Tietsche, Evelyn Jäkel, Johannes Stapf, Gunnar Spreen, and Georg Heygster
The Cryosphere, 14, 165–182, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-165-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-165-2020, 2020
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A spectral to broadband conversion is developed empirically that can be used in combination with the Melt Pond Detector algorithm to derive broadband albedo (300–3000 nm) of Arctic sea ice from MERIS data. It is validated and shows better performance compared to existing conversion methods. A comparison of MERIS broadband albedo with respective values from ERA5 reanalysis suggests a revision of the albedo values used in ERA5. MERIS albedo might be useful for improving albedo representation.
Kévin Fourteau, Patricia Martinerie, Xavier Faïn, Christoph F. Schaller, Rebecca J. Tuckwell, Henning Löwe, Laurent Arnaud, Olivier Magand, Elizabeth R. Thomas, Johannes Freitag, Robert Mulvaney, Martin Schneebeli, and Vladimir Ya. Lipenkov
The Cryosphere, 13, 3383–3403, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3383-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3383-2019, 2019
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Understanding gas trapping in polar ice is essential to study the relationship between greenhouse gases and past climates. New data of bubble closure, used in a simple gas-trapping model, show inconsistency with the final air content in ice. This suggests gas trapping is not fully understood. We also use a combination of high-resolution measurements to investigate the effect of polar snow stratification on gas trapping and find that all strata have similar pores, but that some close in advance.
Stefan Kern, Thomas Lavergne, Dirk Notz, Leif Toudal Pedersen, Rasmus Tage Tonboe, Roberto Saldo, and Atle MacDonald Sørensen
The Cryosphere, 13, 3261–3307, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3261-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3261-2019, 2019
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A systematic evaluation of 10 global satellite data products of the polar sea-ice area is performed. Inter-product differences in evaluation results call for careful consideration of data product limitations when performing sea-ice area trend analyses and for further mitigation of the effects of sensor changes. We open a discussion about evaluation strategies for such data products near-0 % and near-100 % sea-ice concentration, e.g. with the aim to improve high-concentration evaluation accuracy.
Chao Min, Longjiang Mu, Qinghua Yang, Robert Ricker, Qian Shi, Bo Han, Renhao Wu, and Jiping Liu
The Cryosphere, 13, 3209–3224, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3209-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3209-2019, 2019
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Sea ice volume export through the Fram Strait has been studied using varied methods, however, mostly in winter months. Here we report sea ice volume estimates that extend over summer seasons. A recent developed sea ice thickness dataset, in which CryoSat-2 and SMOS sea ice thickness together with SSMI/SSMIS sea ice concentration are assimilated, is used and evaluated in the paper. Results show our estimate is more reasonable than that calculated by satellite data only.
Valentin Ludwig, Gunnar Spreen, Christian Haas, Larysa Istomina, Frank Kauker, and Dmitrii Murashkin
The Cryosphere, 13, 2051–2073, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2051-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2051-2019, 2019
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Sea-ice concentration, the fraction of an area covered by sea ice, can be observed from satellites with different methods. We combine two methods to obtain a product which is better than either of the input measurements alone. The benefit of our product is demonstrated by observing the formation of an open water area which can now be observed with more detail. Additionally, we find that the open water area formed because the sea ice drifted in the opposite direction and faster than usual.
Pia Nielsen-Englyst, Jacob L. Høyer, Kristine S. Madsen, Rasmus T. Tonboe, and Gorm Dybkjær
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-126, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-126, 2019
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The Arctic region is responding heavily to climate change, and yet, the air temperature of Arctic, ice covered areas is heavily under-sampled when it comes to in situ measurements. This paper presents a method for estimating daily mean 2 meter air temperatures (T2m) in the Arctic from satellite observations of skin temperature, providing spatially detailed observations of the Arctic. The satellite derived T2m product covers clear sky snow and ice surfaces in the Arctic for the period 2000–2009.
Lise Kilic, Rasmus Tage Tonboe, Catherine Prigent, and Georg Heygster
The Cryosphere, 13, 1283–1296, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1283-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1283-2019, 2019
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In this study, we develop and present simple algorithms to derive the snow depth, the snow–ice interface temperature, and the effective temperature of Arctic sea ice. This is achieved using satellite observations collocated with buoy measurements. The errors of the retrieved parameters are estimated and compared with independent data. These parameters are useful for sea ice concentration mapping, understanding sea ice properties and variability, and for atmospheric sounding applications.
Pia Nielsen-Englyst, Jacob L. Høyer, Kristine S. Madsen, Rasmus Tonboe, Gorm Dybkjær, and Emy Alerskans
The Cryosphere, 13, 1005–1024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1005-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1005-2019, 2019
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The paper facilitates the construction of a satellite-derived 2 m air temperature (T2m) product for Arctic snow/ice areas. The relationship between skin temperature (Tskin) and T2m is analysed using weather stations. The main factors influencing the relationship are seasonal variations, wind speed and clouds. A clear-sky bias is estimated to assess the effect of cloud-limited satellite observations. The results are valuable when validating satellite Tskin or estimating T2m from satellite Tskin.
Cătălin Paţilea, Georg Heygster, Marcus Huntemann, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 13, 675–691, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-675-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-675-2019, 2019
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Sea ice thickness is important for representing atmosphere–ocean interactions in climate models. A validated satellite sea ice thickness measurement algorithm is transferred to a new sensor. The results offer a better temporal and spatial coverage of satellite measurements in the polar regions. Here we describe the calibration procedure between the two sensors, taking into account their technical differences. In addition a new filter for interference from artificial radio sources is implemented.
David Schröder, Danny L. Feltham, Michel Tsamados, Andy Ridout, and Rachel Tilling
The Cryosphere, 13, 125–139, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-125-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-125-2019, 2019
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This paper uses sea ice thickness data (CryoSat-2) to identify and correct shortcomings in simulating winter ice growth in the widely used sea ice model CICE. Adding a model of snow drift and using a different scheme for calculating the ice conductivity improve model results. Sensitivity studies demonstrate that atmospheric winter conditions have little impact on winter ice growth, and the fate of Arctic summer sea ice is largely controlled by atmospheric conditions during the melting season.
Thomas Lavergne, Atle Macdonald Sørensen, Stefan Kern, Rasmus Tonboe, Dirk Notz, Signe Aaboe, Louisa Bell, Gorm Dybkjær, Steinar Eastwood, Carolina Gabarro, Georg Heygster, Mari Anne Killie, Matilde Brandt Kreiner, John Lavelle, Roberto Saldo, Stein Sandven, and Leif Toudal Pedersen
The Cryosphere, 13, 49–78, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-49-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-49-2019, 2019
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The loss of polar sea ice is an iconic indicator of Earth’s climate change. Many satellite-based algorithms and resulting data exist but they differ widely in specific sea-ice conditions. This spread hinders a robust estimate of the future evolution of sea-ice cover.
In this study, we document three new climate data records of sea-ice concentration generated using satellite data available over the last 40 years. We introduce the novel algorithms, the data records, and their uncertainties.
Isabelle Gouttevin, Moritz Langer, Henning Löwe, Julia Boike, Martin Proksch, and Martin Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 12, 3693–3717, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3693-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3693-2018, 2018
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Snow insulates the ground from the cold air in the Arctic winter, majorly affecting permafrost. This insulation depends on snow characteristics and is poorly quantified. Here, we characterize it at a carbon-rich permafrost site, using a recent technique that retrieves the 3-D structure of snow and its thermal properties. We adapt a snowpack model enabling the simulation of this insulation over a whole winter. We estimate that local snow variations induce up to a 6 °C spread in soil temperatures.
Isobel R. Lawrence, Michel C. Tsamados, Julienne C. Stroeve, Thomas W. K. Armitage, and Andy L. Ridout
The Cryosphere, 12, 3551–3564, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3551-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3551-2018, 2018
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In this paper we estimate the thickness of snow cover on Arctic sea ice from space. We use data from two radar altimeter satellites, AltiKa and CryoSat-2, that have been operating synchronously since 2013. We produce maps of monthly average snow depth for the four growth seasons (October to April): 2012–2013, 2013–2014, 2014–2015, and 2015–2016. Snow depth estimates are essential for the accurate retrieval of sea ice thickness from satellite altimetry.
Robert Ricker, Fanny Girard-Ardhuin, Thomas Krumpen, and Camille Lique
The Cryosphere, 12, 3017–3032, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3017-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3017-2018, 2018
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We present ice volume flux estimates through the Fram Strait using CryoSat-2 ice thickness data. This study presents a detailed analysis of temporal and spatial variability of ice volume export through the Fram Strait and shows the impact of ice volume export on Arctic ice mass balance.
Thomas Kaminski, Frank Kauker, Leif Toudal Pedersen, Michael Voßbeck, Helmuth Haak, Laura Niederdrenk, Stefan Hendricks, Robert Ricker, Michael Karcher, Hajo Eicken, and Ola Gråbak
The Cryosphere, 12, 2569–2594, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2569-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2569-2018, 2018
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We present mathematically rigorous assessments of the observation impact (added value) of remote-sensing products and in terms of the uncertainty reduction in a 4-week forecast of sea ice volume and snow volume for three regions along the Northern Sea Route by a coupled model of the sea-ice–ocean system. We quantify the difference in impact between rawer (freeboard) and higher-level (sea ice thickness) products, and the impact of adding a snow depth product.
Stephan Paul, Stefan Hendricks, Robert Ricker, Stefan Kern, and Eero Rinne
The Cryosphere, 12, 2437–2460, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2437-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2437-2018, 2018
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During ESA's second phase of the Sea Ice Climate Change Initiative (SICCI-2), we developed a novel approach to creating a consistent freeboard data set from Envisat and CryoSat-2. We used consistent procedures that are directly related to the sensors' waveform-echo parameters, instead of applying corrections as a post-processing step. This data set is to our knowledge the first of its kind providing consistent freeboard for the Arctic as well as the Antarctic.
Graham D. Quartly, Eero Rinne, Marcello Passaro, Ole B. Andersen, Salvatore Dinardo, Sara Fleury, Kevin Guerreiro, Amandine Guillot, Stefan Hendricks, Andrey A. Kurekin, Felix L. Müller, Robert Ricker, Henriette Skourup, and Michel Tsamados
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-148, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2018-148, 2018
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Radar altimetry is a high-precision technique for measuring sea level and sea ice thickness from space, which are important for monitoring ocean circulation, sea level rise and changes in the Arctic ice cover. This paper reviews the processing techniques needed to best extract the information from complicated radar echoes, and considers the likely developments in the coming decade.
Aleksey Malinka, Eleonora Zege, Larysa Istomina, Georg Heygster, Gunnar Spreen, Donald Perovich, and Chris Polashenski
The Cryosphere, 12, 1921–1937, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1921-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1921-2018, 2018
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Melt ponds occupy a large part of the Arctic sea ice in summer and strongly affect the radiative budget of the atmosphere–ice–ocean system. The melt pond reflectance is modeled in the framework of the radiative transfer theory and validated with field observations. It improves understanding of melting sea ice and enables better parameterization of the surface in Arctic atmospheric remote sensing (clouds, aerosols, trace gases) and re-evaluating Arctic climatic feedbacks at a new accuracy level.
Julienne C. Stroeve, David Schroder, Michel Tsamados, and Daniel Feltham
The Cryosphere, 12, 1791–1809, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1791-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1791-2018, 2018
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This paper looks at the impact of the warm winter and anomalously low number of total freezing degree days during winter 2016/2017 on thermodynamic ice growth and overall thickness anomalies. The approach relies on evaluation of satellite data (CryoSat-2) and model output. While there is a negative feedback between rapid ice growth for thin ice, with thermodynamic ice growth increasing over time, since 2012 that relationship is changing, in part because the freeze-up is happening later.
Nancy A. N. Bertler, Howard Conway, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Daniel B. Emanuelsson, Mai Winstrup, Paul T. Vallelonga, James E. Lee, Ed J. Brook, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Taylor J. Fudge, Elizabeth D. Keller, W. Troy Baisden, Richard C. A. Hindmarsh, Peter D. Neff, Thomas Blunier, Ross Edwards, Paul A. Mayewski, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Christo Buizert, Silvia Canessa, Ruzica Dadic, Helle A. Kjær, Andrei Kurbatov, Dongqi Zhang, Edwin D. Waddington, Giovanni Baccolo, Thomas Beers, Hannah J. Brightley, Lionel Carter, David Clemens-Sewall, Viorela G. Ciobanu, Barbara Delmonte, Lukas Eling, Aja Ellis, Shruthi Ganesh, Nicholas R. Golledge, Skylar Haines, Michael Handley, Robert L. Hawley, Chad M. Hogan, Katelyn M. Johnson, Elena Korotkikh, Daniel P. Lowry, Darcy Mandeno, Robert M. McKay, James A. Menking, Timothy R. Naish, Caroline Noerling, Agathe Ollive, Anaïs Orsi, Bernadette C. Proemse, Alexander R. Pyne, Rebecca L. Pyne, James Renwick, Reed P. Scherer, Stefanie Semper, Marius Simonsen, Sharon B. Sneed, Eric J. Steig, Andrea Tuohy, Abhijith Ulayottil Venugopal, Fernando Valero-Delgado, Janani Venkatesh, Feitang Wang, Shimeng Wang, Dominic A. Winski, V. Holly L. Winton, Arran Whiteford, Cunde Xiao, Jiao Yang, and Xin Zhang
Clim. Past, 14, 193–214, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-193-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-193-2018, 2018
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Temperature and snow accumulation records from the annually dated Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) ice core show that for the past 2 700 years, the eastern Ross Sea warmed, while the western Ross Sea showed no trend and West Antarctica cooled. From the 17th century onwards, this dipole relationship changed. Now all three regions show concurrent warming, with snow accumulation declining in West Antarctica and the eastern Ross Sea.
Alek A. Petty, Julienne C. Stroeve, Paul R. Holland, Linette N. Boisvert, Angela C. Bliss, Noriaki Kimura, and Walter N. Meier
The Cryosphere, 12, 433–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-433-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-433-2018, 2018
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There was significant scientific and media attention surrounding Arctic sea ice in 2016, due primarily to the record-warm air temperatures and low sea ice conditions observed at the start of the year. Here we quantify and assess the record-low monthly sea ice cover in winter, spring and fall, and the lack of record-low sea ice conditions in summer. We explore the primary drivers of these monthly sea ice states and explore the implications for improved summer sea ice forecasting.
Julienne C. Stroeve, John R. Mioduszewski, Asa Rennermalm, Linette N. Boisvert, Marco Tedesco, and David Robinson
The Cryosphere, 11, 2363–2381, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2363-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2363-2017, 2017
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As the sea ice has declined strongly in recent years there has been a corresponding increase in Greenland melting. While both are likely a result of changes in atmospheric circulation patterns that favor summer melt, this study evaluates whether or not sea ice reductions around the Greenland ice sheet are having an influence on Greenland summer melt through enhanced sensible and latent heat transport from open water areas onto the ice sheet.
Christian Katlein, Stefan Hendricks, and Jeffrey Key
The Cryosphere, 11, 2111–2116, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2111-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2111-2017, 2017
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In the public debate, increasing sea ice extent in the Antarctic is often highlighted as counter-indicative of global warming. Here we show that the slight increases in Antarctic sea ice extent are not able to counter Arctic losses. Using bipolar satellite observations, we demonstrate that even in the Antarctic polar ocean solar shortwave energy absorption is increasing in accordance with strongly increasing shortwave energy absorption in the Arctic Ocean rather than compensating Arctic losses.
Thomas W. K. Armitage, Sheldon Bacon, Andy L. Ridout, Alek A. Petty, Steven Wolbach, and Michel Tsamados
The Cryosphere, 11, 1767–1780, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1767-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1767-2017, 2017
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We present a new 12-year record of geostrophic currents at monthly resolution in the ice-covered and ice-free Arctic Ocean and characterise their seasonal to decadal variability. We also present seasonal climatologies of eddy kinetic energy, and examine the changing location of the Beaufort Gyre. Geostrophic current variability highlights the complex interplay between seasonally varying forcing and sea ice conditions, changing ice–ocean coupling and increasing ocean surface stress in the 2000s.
Pirmin Philipp Ebner, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Barbara Stenni, Martin Schneebeli, and Aldo Steinfeld
The Cryosphere, 11, 1733–1743, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1733-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1733-2017, 2017
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Stable water isotopes (δ18O) obtained from snow and ice samples from polar regions are used to reconstruct past climate variability. We present an experimental study on the effect on the snow isotopic composition by airflow through a snowpack in controlled laboratory conditions. The disequilibrium between snow and vapor isotopes changed the isotopic content of the snow. These measurements suggest that metamorphism and its history affect the snow isotopic composition.
Robert Ricker, Stefan Hendricks, Lars Kaleschke, Xiangshan Tian-Kunze, Jennifer King, and Christian Haas
The Cryosphere, 11, 1607–1623, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1607-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1607-2017, 2017
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We developed the first merging of CryoSat-2 and SMOS sea-ice thickness retrievals. ESA’s Earth Explorer SMOS satellite can detect thin sea ice, whereas its companion CryoSat-2, designed to observe thicker perennial sea ice, lacks sensitivity. Using these satellite missions together completes the picture of the changing Arctic sea ice and provides a more accurate and comprehensive view on the actual state of Arctic sea-ice thickness.
Gunnar Spreen, Ron Kwok, Dimitris Menemenlis, and An T. Nguyen
The Cryosphere, 11, 1553–1573, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1553-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1553-2017, 2017
Sascha Bellaire, Martin Proksch, Martin Schneebeli, Masashi Niwano, and Konrad Steffen
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2017-55, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2017-55, 2017
Preprint withdrawn
Paul Vallelonga, Niccolo Maffezzoli, Andrew D. Moy, Mark A. J. Curran, Tessa R. Vance, Ross Edwards, Gwyn Hughes, Emily Barker, Gunnar Spreen, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, J. Pablo Corella, Carlos A. Cuevas, and Andrea Spolaor
Clim. Past, 13, 171–184, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-171-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-171-2017, 2017
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We present a study of bromine, iodine and sodium in an ice core from Law Dome, in coastal East Antarctica. We find that bromine and iodine variability at Law Dome is correlated to changes in the area of sea ice along the Law Dome coast as observed by satellite since the early 1970s. These findings are in agreement with a previous study based on MSA and confirm a long-term trend of sea ice decrease for this sector of Antarctica over the 20th century.
Kiana Zolfaghari, Claude R. Duguay, and Homa Kheyrollah Pour
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 377–391, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-377-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-377-2017, 2017
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A remotely-sensed water clarity value (Kd) was applied to improve FLake model simulations of Lake Erie thermal structure using a time-invariant (constant) annual value as well as monthly values of Kd. The sensitivity of FLake model to Kd values was studied. It was shown that the model is very sensitive to variations in Kd when the value is less than 0.5 m-1.
Lars H. Smedsrud, Mari H. Halvorsen, Julienne C. Stroeve, Rong Zhang, and Kjell Kloster
The Cryosphere, 11, 65–79, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-65-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-65-2017, 2017
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Export of Arctic sea ice area southwards through the Fram Strait from 1935 to 2014 is calculated based on satellite radar images and surface pressure observations. The annual mean export is 880 000 km2, representing 10 % of the Arctic sea ice area. In recent years the export has been above 1 million km2, and there are positive trends over the last 30 years. Increased ice export during spring and summer contributes to more open water in September, and this correlations has increased over time.
Jinyang Du, John S. Kimball, Claude Duguay, Youngwook Kim, and Jennifer D. Watts
The Cryosphere, 11, 47–63, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-47-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-47-2017, 2017
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A new automated method for microwave satellite assessment of lake ice conditions at 5 km resolution was developed for lakes in the Northern Hemisphere. The resulting ice record shows strong agreement with ground observations and alternative ice records. Higher latitude lakes reveal more widespread and larger trends toward shorter ice cover duration than lower latitude lakes. The new approach allows for rapid monitoring of lake ice cover changes, with accuracy suitable for global change studies.
Rasmus T. Tonboe, Steinar Eastwood, Thomas Lavergne, Atle M. Sørensen, Nicholas Rathmann, Gorm Dybkjær, Leif Toudal Pedersen, Jacob L. Høyer, and Stefan Kern
The Cryosphere, 10, 2275–2290, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2275-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2275-2016, 2016
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The EUMETSAT sea ice climate record (ESICR) is based on the Nimbus 7 SMMR (1978–1987), the SSM/I (1987–2009), and the SSMIS (2003–today) microwave radiometer data. It uses a combination of two sea ice concentration algorithms with dynamical tie points, explicit atmospheric correction using numerical weather prediction data for error reduction and it comes with spatially and temporally varying uncertainty estimates describing the residual uncertainties.
Stefan Kern, Anja Rösel, Leif Toudal Pedersen, Natalia Ivanova, Roberto Saldo, and Rasmus Tage Tonboe
The Cryosphere, 10, 2217–2239, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2217-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2217-2016, 2016
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Sea ice, frozen seawater floating on polar oceans, is covered by meltwater puddles, so-called melt ponds, during summer. Methods used to compute Arctic sea-ice concentration (SIC) from microwave satellite data are influenced by melt ponds. We apply eight such methods to one microwave dataset and compare SIC with visible data. We conclude all methods fail to distinguish melt ponds from leads between ice floes; SIC biases are negative (positive) for ponded (non-ponded) sea ice and can exceed 20 %.
Dirk Notz, Alexandra Jahn, Marika Holland, Elizabeth Hunke, François Massonnet, Julienne Stroeve, Bruno Tremblay, and Martin Vancoppenolle
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 3427–3446, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-3427-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-3427-2016, 2016
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The large-scale evolution of sea ice is both an indicator and a driver of climate changes. Hence, a realistic simulation of sea ice is key for a realistic simulation of the climate system of our planet. To assess and to improve the realism of sea-ice simulations, we present here a new protocol for climate-model output that allows for an in-depth analysis of the simulated evolution of sea ice.
Juha Lemmetyinen, Anna Kontu, Jouni Pulliainen, Juho Vehviläinen, Kimmo Rautiainen, Andreas Wiesmann, Christian Mätzler, Charles Werner, Helmut Rott, Thomas Nagler, Martin Schneebeli, Martin Proksch, Dirk Schüttemeyer, Michael Kern, and Malcolm W. J. Davidson
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 5, 403–415, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-5-403-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-5-403-2016, 2016
Julienne C. Stroeve, Stephanie Jenouvrier, G. Garrett Campbell, Christophe Barbraud, and Karine Delord
The Cryosphere, 10, 1823–1843, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1823-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1823-2016, 2016
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Sea ice variability within the marginal ice zone and polynyas plays an important role for phytoplankton productivity and krill abundance. Therefore mapping their spatial extent as well as seasonal and interannual variability is essential for understanding how current and future changes in these biologically active regions may impact the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Assessments are complicated, however, by which sea ice algorithm is used, with impacts on interpretations on seabird populations.
Sandra Schwegmann, Eero Rinne, Robert Ricker, Stefan Hendricks, and Veit Helm
The Cryosphere, 10, 1415–1425, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1415-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1415-2016, 2016
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Our study aimed to investigate whether CS-2 and Envisat radar freeboard can be merged without intermission biases in order to obtain a 20-year data set. The comparison revealed a reasonable regional agreement between radar freeboards derived from both sensors. Differences are mostly below 0.1 m for modal freeboard and even less for mean freeboard over winter months (May–October). The highest differences occur in regions with multi-year sea ice and along the coasts.
Alek A. Petty, Michel C. Tsamados, Nathan T. Kurtz, Sinead L. Farrell, Thomas Newman, Jeremy P. Harbeck, Daniel L. Feltham, and Jackie A. Richter-Menge
The Cryosphere, 10, 1161–1179, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1161-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1161-2016, 2016
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This study presents an analysis of Arctic sea ice topography using high-resolution, three-dimensional surface elevation data from the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) laser altimeter, flown as part of NASA's Operation IceBridge mission. We describe and implement a newly developed sea ice surface feature-picking algorithm and derive novel information regarding the height, volume and geometry of surface features over the western Arctic sea ice cover.
Daniela Flocco, Daniel L. Feltham, David Schroeder, and Michel Tsamados
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-118, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-118, 2016
Preprint withdrawn
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Melt ponds form over the sea ice cover in the Arctic and impact the surface albedo inducing a positive feedback leading to further melting.
While they refreeze, ponds delay basal sea ice growth in Autumn impacting the internal sea ice temperature and therefore its basal growth rate. By using a numerical model we estimate an inhibited basal growth of up to 228 km3, which represents 25 % of the basal sea ice growth estimated by PIOMAS during the months of September and October.
Pascal Hagenmuller, Margret Matzl, Guillaume Chambon, and Martin Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 10, 1039–1054, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1039-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1039-2016, 2016
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The paper focuses on the characterization of snow microstructure with X-ray microtomography, a technique that is progressively becoming the standard for snow characterization. In particular, it rigorously investigates how the image processing algorithms affect the subsequent microstructure characterization in terms of density and specific surface area. From this analysis, practical recommendations concerning the processing X-ray tomographic images of snow are provided.
Cristina M. Surdu, Claude R. Duguay, and Diego Fernández Prieto
The Cryosphere, 10, 941–960, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-941-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-941-2016, 2016
William Maslanka, Leena Leppänen, Anna Kontu, Mel Sandells, Juha Lemmetyinen, Martin Schneebeli, Martin Proksch, Margret Matzl, Henna-Reetta Hannula, and Robert Gurney
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 5, 85–94, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-5-85-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-5-85-2016, 2016
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The paper presents the initial findings of the Arctic Snow Microstructure Experiment in Sodankylä, Finland. The experiment observed the microwave emission of extracted snow slabs on absorbing and reflecting bases. Snow parameters were recorded to simulate the emission upon those bases using two different emission models. The smallest simulation errors were associated with the absorbing base at vertical polarization. The observations will be used for the development of snow emission modelling.
Pirmin Philipp Ebner, Martin Schneebeli, and Aldo Steinfeld
The Cryosphere, 10, 791–797, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-791-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-791-2016, 2016
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Changes of the porous ice structure were observed in a snow sample. Sublimation occurred due to the slight undersaturation of the incoming air into the warmer ice matrix. Diffusion of water vapor opposite to the direction of the temperature gradient counteracted the mass transport of advection. Therefore, the total net ice change was negligible, leading to a constant porosity profile. However, the strong recrystallization of water molecules in snow may impact its isotopic or chemical content.
P. Muhammad, C. Duguay, and K.-K. Kang
The Cryosphere, 10, 569–584, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-569-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-569-2016, 2016
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This study involves the analysis of MODIS Level 3500 m snow products, complemented with 250 m Level 1B data, to monitor ice cover during the break-up period on the Mackenzie River, Canada. Results from the analysis of data for 13 ice seasons (2001–2013) show that ice-off begins between days of year (DOYs) 115 and 125 and ends between DOYs 145 and 155, resulting in average melt durations of about 30–40 days; we conclude that MODIS can monitor ice break-up.
T. Krumpen, R. Gerdes, C. Haas, S. Hendricks, A. Herber, V. Selyuzhenok, L. Smedsrud, and G. Spreen
The Cryosphere, 10, 523–534, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-523-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-523-2016, 2016
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We present an extensive data set of ground-based and airborne electromagnetic ice thickness measurements covering Fram Strait in summer between 2001 and 2012. An investigation of back trajectories of surveyed sea ice using satellite-based sea ice motion data allows us to examine the connection between thickness variability, ice age and source area. In addition, we determine across and along strait gradients in ice thickness and associated volume fluxes.
Marco Tedesco, Sarah Doherty, Xavier Fettweis, Patrick Alexander, Jeyavinoth Jeyaratnam, and Julienne Stroeve
The Cryosphere, 10, 477–496, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-477-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-477-2016, 2016
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Summer surface albedo over Greenland decreased at a rate of 0.02 per decade between 1996 and 2012. The decrease is due to snow grain growth, the expansion of bare ice areas, and trends in light-absorbing impurities on snow and ice surfaces. Neither aerosol models nor in situ observations indicate increasing trends in impurities in the atmosphere over Greenland. Albedo projections through to the end of the century under different warming scenarios consistently point to continued darkening.
Martin Proksch, Nick Rutter, Charles Fierz, and Martin Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 10, 371–384, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-371-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-371-2016, 2016
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Density is a fundamental property of porous media such as snow. During the MicroSnow Davos 2014 workshop, different approaches (box-, wedge- and cylinder-type density cutters, micro-computed tomography) to measure snow density were applied in a controlled laboratory environment and in the field. In general, results suggest that snow densities measured by different methods agree within 9 %. However, the density profiles resolved by the measurement methods differed considerably.
A. Spolaor, T. Opel, J. R. McConnell, O. J. Maselli, G. Spreen, C. Varin, T. Kirchgeorg, D. Fritzsche, A. Saiz-Lopez, and P. Vallelonga
The Cryosphere, 10, 245–256, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-245-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-245-2016, 2016
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The role of sea ice in the Earth climate system is still under debate, although it is known to influence albedo, ocean circulation, and atmosphere-ocean heat and gas exchange. Here we present a reconstruction of 1950 to 1998 AD sea ice in the Laptev Sea based on the Akademii Nauk ice core (Severnaya Zemlya, Russian Arctic) and halogen measurements. The results suggest a connection between bromine and sea ice, as well as a connection between iodine concentration in snow and summer sea ice.
M. C. Fuller, T. Geldsetzer, J. Yackel, and J. P. S. Gill
The Cryosphere, 9, 2149–2161, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2149-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2149-2015, 2015
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We modeled snow (based on weather variables) to simulate microwave response. The simulated snowpack, and the simulated microwave backscatter response, was compared to observed physical snow and ice properties and the observed microwave response. There was better agreement between the simulated and observed microwave signatures when we applied observed salinity profiles to the simulated snow pack. Without correction for observed salinity, there was less agreement.
F. Kauker, T. Kaminski, R. Ricker, L. Toudal-Pedersen, G. Dybkjaer, C. Melsheimer, S. Eastwood, H. Sumata, M. Karcher, and R. Gerdes
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-9-5521-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-9-5521-2015, 2015
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The manuscript describes the use of remotely sensed sea ice observations for the initialization of seasonal sea ice predictions. Among other observations, CryoSat-2 ice thickness is, to our knowledge for the first time, utilized. While a direct assimilation with CryoSat ice thickness could improve the predictions only locally, the use an advanced data assimilation system (4dVar) allows to establish a bias correction scheme, which is shown to improve the seasonal predictions Arctic wide.
N. Ivanova, L. T. Pedersen, R. T. Tonboe, S. Kern, G. Heygster, T. Lavergne, A. Sørensen, R. Saldo, G. Dybkjær, L. Brucker, and M. Shokr
The Cryosphere, 9, 1797–1817, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1797-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1797-2015, 2015
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Thirty sea ice algorithms are inter-compared and evaluated systematically over low and high sea ice concentrations, as well as in the presence of thin ice and melt ponds. A hybrid approach is suggested to retrieve sea ice concentration globally for climate monitoring purposes. This approach consists of a combination of two algorithms plus the implementation of a dynamic tie point and atmospheric correction of input brightness temperatures.
M. Proksch, C. Mätzler, A. Wiesmann, J. Lemmetyinen, M. Schwank, H. Löwe, and M. Schneebeli
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2611–2626, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2611-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2611-2015, 2015
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The measurement of snow properties on global scale relies on microwave remote sensing data. The interpretation of the data is however challenging. Here we introduce MEMLS3&a, an extension of the snow emission model MEMLS, to include a backscatter model for active microwave remote sensing. In MEMLS3&a, snow input parameters can be derived by objective measurement methods, which avoids fitting the scattering efficiency of snow. The model is validated with combined active and passive measurements.
L. Istomina, G. Heygster, M. Huntemann, P. Schwarz, G. Birnbaum, R. Scharien, C. Polashenski, D. Perovich, E. Zege, A. Malinka, A. Prikhach, and I. Katsev
The Cryosphere, 9, 1551–1566, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1551-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1551-2015, 2015
L. Istomina, G. Heygster, M. Huntemann, H. Marks, C. Melsheimer, E. Zege, A. Malinka, A. Prikhach, and I. Katsev
The Cryosphere, 9, 1567–1578, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1567-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1567-2015, 2015
P. P. Ebner, M. Schneebeli, and A. Steinfeld
The Cryosphere, 9, 1363–1371, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1363-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1363-2015, 2015
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Time-lapse X-ray microtomography was used to investigate the structural dynamics of isothermal snow metamorphism exposed to an advective airflow and possible effects on natural snowpacks were discussed. The results showed that isothermal advection with saturated air have no influence on the coarsening rate that is typical for isothermal snow metamorphism. It is driven by sublimation-deposition caused by Kelvin effect and is the limiting factor independently of the transport regime in the pores.
N.-X. Geilfus, R. J. Galley, O. Crabeck, T. Papakyriakou, J. Landy, J.-L. Tison, and S. Rysgaard
Biogeosciences, 12, 2047–2061, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-2047-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-2047-2015, 2015
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We investigated the evolution of inorganic carbon within landfast sea ice in Resolute Passage during the spring and summer melt period.
Low TA and TCO2 concentrations observed in sea ice and brine were associated with the percolation of meltwater from melt ponds. Meltwater was continuously supplied to the ponds which prevented melt ponds from fully equilibrating with the atmospheric CO2 concentration, promoting a continuous uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere.
J. Schwaab, M. Bavay, E. Davin, F. Hagedorn, F. Hüsler, M. Lehning, M. Schneebeli, E. Thürig, and P. Bebi
Biogeosciences, 12, 467–487, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-467-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-467-2015, 2015
R. K. Scharien, J. Landy, and D. G. Barber
The Cryosphere, 8, 2147–2162, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2147-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2147-2014, 2014
R. K. Scharien, K. Hochheim, J. Landy, and D. G. Barber
The Cryosphere, 8, 2163–2176, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2163-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2163-2014, 2014
J. Stroeve, A. Barrett, M. Serreze, and A. Schweiger
The Cryosphere, 8, 1839–1854, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1839-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1839-2014, 2014
S. Schleef, H. Löwe, and M. Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 8, 1825–1838, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1825-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1825-2014, 2014
P. P. Ebner, S. A. Grimm, M. Schneebeli, and A. Steinfeld
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 3, 179–185, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-3-179-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-3-179-2014, 2014
R. Ricker, S. Hendricks, V. Helm, H. Skourup, and M. Davidson
The Cryosphere, 8, 1607–1622, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1607-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1607-2014, 2014
M. Huntemann, G. Heygster, L. Kaleschke, T. Krumpen, M. Mäkynen, and M. Drusch
The Cryosphere, 8, 439–451, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-439-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-439-2014, 2014
C. M. Surdu, C. R. Duguay, L. C. Brown, and D. Fernández Prieto
The Cryosphere, 8, 167–180, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-167-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-167-2014, 2014
K. A. Luus, Y. Gel, J. C. Lin, R. E. J. Kelly, and C. R. Duguay
Biogeosciences, 10, 7575–7597, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7575-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7575-2013, 2013
H. Löwe, F. Riche, and M. Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 7, 1473–1480, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1473-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1473-2013, 2013
T. Bartels-Rausch, S. N. Wren, S. Schreiber, F. Riche, M. Schneebeli, and M. Ammann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 6727–6739, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6727-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6727-2013, 2013
L. Rabenstein, T. Krumpen, S. Hendricks, C. Koeberle, C. Haas, and J. A. Hoelemann
The Cryosphere, 7, 947–959, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-947-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-947-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Discipline: Sea ice | Subject: Remote Sensing
Impact assessment of snow thickness, sea ice density and water density in CryoSat-2-derived sea ice thickness
Pan-Arctic sea ice concentration from SAR and passive microwave
Assessing sea ice microwave emissivity up to submillimeter waves from airborne and satellite observations
The AutoICE Challenge
A study of sea ice topography in the Weddell and Ross seas using dual-polarimetric TanDEM-X imagery
Estimating differential penetration of green (532 nm) laser light over sea ice with NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper: observations and models
Estimating the uncertainty of sea-ice area and sea-ice extent from satellite retrievals
Sea ice transport and replenishment across and within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, 2016–2022
SAR deep learning sea ice retrieval trained with airborne laser scanner measurements from the MOSAiC expedition
MMSeaIce: a collection of techniques for improving sea ice mapping with a multi-task model
Lead fractions from SAR-derived sea ice divergence during MOSAiC
Ice floe segmentation and floe size distribution in airborne and high-resolution optical satellite images: towards an automated labelling deep learning approach
Snow Depth Estimation on Lead-less Landfast ice using Cryo2Ice satellite observations
Novel methods to study sea ice deformation, linear kinematic features and coherent dynamic elements from imaging remote sensing data
Updated Arctic melt pond fraction dataset and trends 2002–2023 using ENVISAT and Sentinel-3 remote sensing data
New estimates of pan-Arctic sea ice–atmosphere neutral drag coefficients from ICESat-2 elevation data
Relevance of warm air intrusions for Arctic satellite sea ice concentration time series
Observing the evolution of summer melt on multiyear sea ice with ICESat-2 and Sentinel-2
Spaceborne thermal infrared observations of Arctic sea ice leads at 30 m resolution
First observations of sea ice flexural–gravity waves with ground-based radar interferometry in Utqiaġvik, Alaska
Feasibility of retrieving Arctic sea ice thickness from the Chinese HY-2B Ku-band radar altimeter
Sea ice classification of TerraSAR-X ScanSAR images for the MOSAiC expedition incorporating per-class incidence angle dependency of image texture
Aerial observations of sea ice breakup by ship waves
Monitoring Arctic thin ice: a comparison between CryoSat-2 SAR altimetry data and MODIS thermal-infrared imagery
The effects of surface roughness on the calculated, spectral, conical–conical reflectance factor as an alternative to the bidirectional reflectance distribution function of bare sea ice
Inter-comparison and evaluation of Arctic sea ice type products
A simple model for daily basin-wide thermodynamic sea ice thickness growth retrieval
Ice ridge density signatures in high-resolution SAR images
Rain on snow (ROS) understudied in sea ice remote sensing: a multi-sensor analysis of ROS during MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate)
Quantifying the effects of background concentrations of crude oil pollution on sea ice albedo
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery
Generating large-scale sea ice motion from Sentinel-1 and the RADARSAT Constellation Mission using the Environment and Climate Change Canada automated sea ice tracking system
Rotational drift in Antarctic sea ice: pronounced cyclonic features and differences between data products
Satellite passive microwave sea-ice concentration data set intercomparison using Landsat data
Cross-platform classification of level and deformed sea ice considering per-class incident angle dependency of backscatter intensity
Advances in altimetric snow depth estimates using bi-frequency SARAL and CryoSat-2 Ka–Ku measurements
Antarctic snow-covered sea ice topography derivation from TanDEM-X using polarimetric SAR interferometry
Impacts of snow data and processing methods on the interpretation of long-term changes in Baffin Bay early spring sea ice thickness
A lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice: a case study for the Weddell Sea with high-resolution Sentinel-2 images
Satellite altimetry detection of ice-shelf-influenced fast ice
MOSAiC drift expedition from October 2019 to July 2020: sea ice conditions from space and comparison with previous years
Towards a swath-to-swath sea-ice drift product for the Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer mission
Spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of Weddell Polynya opening
Estimating instantaneous sea-ice dynamics from space using the bi-static radar measurements of Earth Explorer 10 candidate Harmony
Estimating subpixel turbulent heat flux over leads from MODIS thermal infrared imagery with deep learning
An improved sea ice detection algorithm using MODIS: application as a new European sea ice extent indicator
Faster decline and higher variability in the sea ice thickness of the marginal Arctic seas when accounting for dynamic snow cover
Estimation of degree of sea ice ridging in the Bay of Bothnia based on geolocated photon heights from ICESat-2
Linking sea ice deformation to ice thickness redistribution using high-resolution satellite and airborne observations
Simulated Ka- and Ku-band radar altimeter height and freeboard estimation on snow-covered Arctic sea ice
Imke Sievers, Henriette Skourup, and Till A. S. Rasmussen
The Cryosphere, 18, 5985–6004, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5985-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5985-2024, 2024
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To derive sea ice thickness (SIT) from satellite freeboard (FB) observations, assumptions about snow thickness, snow density, sea ice density and water density are needed. These parameters are impossible to observe alongside FB, so many existing products use empirical values. In this study, modeled values are used instead. The modeled values and otherwise commonly used empirical values are evaluated against in situ observations. In a further analysis, the influence on SIT is quantified.
Tore Wulf, Jørgen Buus-Hinkler, Suman Singha, Hoyeon Shi, and Matilde Brandt Kreiner
The Cryosphere, 18, 5277–5300, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5277-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5277-2024, 2024
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Here, we present ASIP: a new and comprehensive deep-learning-based methodology to retrieve high-resolution sea ice concentration with accompanying well-calibrated uncertainties from satellite-based active and passive microwave observations at a pan-Arctic scale for all seasons. In a comparative study against pan-Arctic ice charts and well-established passive-microwave-based sea ice products, we show that ASIP generalizes well to the pan-Arctic region.
Nils Risse, Mario Mech, Catherine Prigent, Gunnar Spreen, and Susanne Crewell
The Cryosphere, 18, 4137–4163, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4137-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4137-2024, 2024
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Passive microwave observations from satellites are crucial for monitoring Arctic sea ice and atmosphere. To do this effectively, it is important to understand how sea ice emits microwaves. Through unique Arctic sea ice observations, we improved our understanding, identified four distinct emission types, and expanded current knowledge to include higher frequencies. These findings will enhance our ability to monitor the Arctic climate and provide valuable information for new satellite missions.
Andreas Stokholm, Jørgen Buus-Hinkler, Tore Wulf, Anton Korosov, Roberto Saldo, Leif Toudal Pedersen, David Arthurs, Ionut Dragan, Iacopo Modica, Juan Pedro, Annekatrien Debien, Xinwei Chen, Muhammed Patel, Fernando Jose Pena Cantu, Javier Noa Turnes, Jinman Park, Linlin Xu, Katharine Andrea Scott, David Anthony Clausi, Yuan Fang, Mingzhe Jiang, Saeid Taleghanidoozdoozan, Neil Curtis Brubacher, Armina Soleymani, Zacharie Gousseau, Michał Smaczny, Patryk Kowalski, Jacek Komorowski, David Rijlaarsdam, Jan Nicolaas van Rijn, Jens Jakobsen, Martin Samuel James Rogers, Nick Hughes, Tom Zagon, Rune Solberg, Nicolas Longépé, and Matilde Brandt Kreiner
The Cryosphere, 18, 3471–3494, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3471-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3471-2024, 2024
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The AutoICE challenge encouraged the development of deep learning models to map multiple aspects of sea ice – the amount of sea ice in an area and the age and ice floe size – using multiple sources of satellite and weather data across the Canadian and Greenlandic Arctic. Professionally drawn operational sea ice charts were used as a reference. A total of 179 students and sea ice and AI specialists participated and produced maps in broad agreement with the sea ice charts.
Lanqing Huang and Irena Hajnsek
The Cryosphere, 18, 3117–3140, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3117-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3117-2024, 2024
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Interferometric synthetic aperture radar can measure the total freeboard of sea ice but can be biased when radar signals penetrate snow and ice. We develop a new method to retrieve the total freeboard and analyze the regional variation of total freeboard and roughness in the Weddell and Ross seas. We also investigate the statistical behavior of the total freeboard for diverse ice types. The findings enhance the understanding of Antarctic sea ice topography and its dynamics in a changing climate.
Michael Studinger, Benjamin E. Smith, Nathan Kurtz, Alek Petty, Tyler Sutterley, and Rachel Tilling
The Cryosphere, 18, 2625–2652, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2625-2024, 2024
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We use green lidar data and natural-color imagery over sea ice to quantify elevation biases potentially impacting estimates of change in ice thickness of the polar regions. We complement our analysis using a model of scattering of light in snow and ice that predicts the shape of lidar waveforms reflecting from snow and ice surfaces based on the shape of the transmitted pulse. We find that biased elevations exist in airborne and spaceborne data products from green lidars.
Andreas Wernecke, Dirk Notz, Stefan Kern, and Thomas Lavergne
The Cryosphere, 18, 2473–2486, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2473-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2473-2024, 2024
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The total Arctic sea-ice area (SIA), which is an important climate indicator, is routinely monitored with the help of satellite measurements. Uncertainties in observations of sea-ice concentration (SIC) partly cancel out when summed up to the total SIA, but the degree to which this is happening has been unclear. Here we find that the uncertainty daily SIA estimates, based on uncertainties in SIC, are about 300 000 km2. The 2002 to 2017 September decline in SIA is approx. 105 000 ± 9000 km2 a−1.
Stephen E. L. Howell, David G. Babb, Jack C. Landy, Isolde A. Glissenaar, Kaitlin McNeil, Benoit Montpetit, and Mike Brady
The Cryosphere, 18, 2321–2333, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2321-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2321-2024, 2024
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The CAA serves as both a source and a sink for sea ice from the Arctic Ocean, while also exporting sea ice into Baffin Bay. It is also an important region with respect to navigating the Northwest Passage. Here, we quantify sea ice transport and replenishment across and within the CAA from 2016 to 2022. We also provide the first estimates of the ice area and volume flux within the CAA from the Queen Elizabeth Islands to Parry Channel, which spans the central region of the Northwest Passage.
Karl Kortum, Suman Singha, Gunnar Spreen, Nils Hutter, Arttu Jutila, and Christian Haas
The Cryosphere, 18, 2207–2222, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2207-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2207-2024, 2024
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A dataset of 20 radar satellite acquisitions and near-simultaneous helicopter-based surveys of the ice topography during the MOSAiC expedition is constructed and used to train a variety of deep learning algorithms. The results give realistic insights into the accuracy of retrieval of measured ice classes using modern deep learning models. The models able to learn from the spatial distribution of the measured sea ice classes are shown to have a clear advantage over those that cannot.
Xinwei Chen, Muhammed Patel, Fernando J. Pena Cantu, Jinman Park, Javier Noa Turnes, Linlin Xu, K. Andrea Scott, and David A. Clausi
The Cryosphere, 18, 1621–1632, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1621-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1621-2024, 2024
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This paper introduces an automated sea ice mapping pipeline utilizing a multi-task U-Net architecture. It attained the top score of 86.3 % in the AutoICE challenge. Ablation studies revealed that incorporating brightness temperature data and spatial–temporal information significantly enhanced model accuracy. Accurate sea ice mapping is vital for comprehending the Arctic environment and its global climate effects, underscoring the potential of deep learning.
Luisa von Albedyll, Stefan Hendricks, Nils Hutter, Dmitrii Murashkin, Lars Kaleschke, Sascha Willmes, Linda Thielke, Xiangshan Tian-Kunze, Gunnar Spreen, and Christian Haas
The Cryosphere, 18, 1259–1285, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1259-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1259-2024, 2024
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Leads (openings in sea ice cover) are created by sea ice dynamics. Because they are important for many processes in the Arctic winter climate, we aim to detect them with satellites. We present two new techniques to detect lead widths of a few hundred meters at high spatial resolution (700 m) and independent of clouds or sun illumination. We use the MOSAiC drift 2019–2020 in the Arctic for our case study and compare our new products to other existing lead products.
Qin Zhang and Nick Hughes
The Cryosphere, 17, 5519–5537, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5519-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5519-2023, 2023
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To alleviate tedious manual image annotations for training deep learning (DL) models in floe instance segmentation, we employ a classical image processing technique to automatically label floes in images. We then apply a DL semantic method for fast and adaptive floe instance segmentation from high-resolution airborne and satellite images. A post-processing algorithm is also proposed to refine the segmentation and further to derive acceptable floe size distributions at local and global scales.
Monojit Saha, Julienne Stroeve, Dustin Isleifson, John Yackel, Vishnu Nandan, Jack Christopher Landy, and Hoi Ming Lam
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2509, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2509, 2023
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Snow on sea ice is vital for near-shore sea ice geophysical and biological processes. Past studies have measured snow depths using satellite altimeters Cryosat-2 and ICESat-2 (Cryo2Ice) but estimating sea surface height from lead-less land-fast sea ice remains challenging. Snow depths from Cryo2Ice are compared to in-situ after adjusting for tides. Realistic snow depths are retrieved but difference in roughness, satellite footprints and snow geophysical properties are identified as challenges.
Polona Itkin
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2626, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2626, 2023
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We analyzed radar satellite images of sea ice to understand how sea ice moves and deforms. This data is noisy, especially when looking at small details. We developed a method to filter out the noise. We used the filtered data to monitor how ice plates stretch and compresses over time, revealing slow healing of ice fractures. We also studied cohesive clusters of ice plates that move together. Our methods provide climate-relevant insights into the dynamic nature of winter sea ice cover.
Larysa Istomina, Hannah Niehaus, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-142, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2023-142, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for TC
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Melt water puddles, or melt ponds on top of the Arctic sea ice are a good measure of the Arctic climate state. In the context of the recent climate warming, the Arctic has warmed about 4 times faster than the rest of the world, and a long-term dataset of the melt pond fraction is needed to be able to model the future development of the Arctic climate. We present such a dataset, produce 2002–2023 trends and highlight a potential melt regime shift with drastic regional trends of +20 % per decade.
Alexander Mchedlishvili, Christof Lüpkes, Alek Petty, Michel Tsamados, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 17, 4103–4131, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4103-2023, 2023
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In this study we looked at sea ice–atmosphere drag coefficients, quantities that help with characterizing the friction between the atmosphere and sea ice, and vice versa. Using ICESat-2, a laser altimeter that measures elevation differences by timing how long it takes for photons it sends out to return to itself, we could map the roughness, i.e., how uneven the surface is. From roughness we then estimate drag force, the frictional force between sea ice and the atmosphere, across the Arctic.
Philip Rostosky and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 17, 3867–3881, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3867-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3867-2023, 2023
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During winter, storms entering the Arctic region can bring warm air into the cold environment. Strong increases in air temperature modify the characteristics of the Arctic snow and ice cover. The Arctic sea ice cover can be monitored by satellites observing the natural emission of the Earth's surface. In this study, we show that during warm air intrusions the change in the snow characteristics influences the satellite-derived sea ice cover, leading to a false reduction of the estimated ice area.
Ellen M. Buckley, Sinéad L. Farrell, Ute C. Herzfeld, Melinda A. Webster, Thomas Trantow, Oliwia N. Baney, Kyle A. Duncan, Huilin Han, and Matthew Lawson
The Cryosphere, 17, 3695–3719, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3695-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3695-2023, 2023
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In this study, we use satellite observations to investigate the evolution of melt ponds on the Arctic sea ice surface. We derive melt pond depth from ICESat-2 measurements of the pond surface and bathymetry and melt pond fraction (MPF) from the classification of Sentinel-2 imagery. MPF increases to a peak of 16 % in late June and then decreases, while depth increases steadily. This work demonstrates the ability to track evolving melt conditions in three dimensions throughout the summer.
Yujia Qiu, Xiao-Ming Li, and Huadong Guo
The Cryosphere, 17, 2829–2849, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2829-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2829-2023, 2023
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Spaceborne thermal infrared sensors with kilometer-scale resolution cannot support adequate parameterization of Arctic leads. For the first time, we applied the 30 m resolution data from the Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIS) on the emerging SDGSAT-1 to detect Arctic leads. Validation with Sentinel-2 data shows high accuracy for the three TIS bands. Compared to MODIS, the TIS presents more narrow leads, demonstrating its great potential for observing previously unresolvable Arctic leads.
Dyre Oliver Dammann, Mark A. Johnson, Andrew R. Mahoney, and Emily R. Fedders
The Cryosphere, 17, 1609–1622, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1609-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1609-2023, 2023
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We investigate the GAMMA Portable Radar Interferometer (GPRI) as a tool for evaluating flexural–gravity waves in sea ice in near real time. With a GPRI mounted on grounded ice near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, we identify 20–50 s infragravity waves in landfast ice with ~1 mm amplitude during 23–24 April 2021. Observed wave speed and periods compare well with modeled wave propagation and on-ice accelerometers, confirming the ability to track propagation and properties of waves over hundreds of meters.
Zhaoqing Dong, Lijian Shi, Mingsen Lin, Yongjun Jia, Tao Zeng, and Suhui Wu
The Cryosphere, 17, 1389–1410, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1389-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1389-2023, 2023
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We try to explore the application of SGDR data in polar sea ice thickness. Through this study, we find that it seems difficult to obtain reasonable results by using conventional methods. So we use the 15 lowest points per 25 km to estimate SSHA to retrieve more reasonable Arctic radar freeboard and thickness. This study also provides reference for reprocessing L1 data. We will release products that are more reasonable and suitable for polar sea ice thickness retrieval to better evaluate HY-2B.
Wenkai Guo, Polona Itkin, Suman Singha, Anthony P. Doulgeris, Malin Johansson, and Gunnar Spreen
The Cryosphere, 17, 1279–1297, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1279-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1279-2023, 2023
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Sea ice maps are produced to cover the MOSAiC Arctic expedition (2019–2020) and divide sea ice into scientifically meaningful classes. We use a high-resolution X-band synthetic aperture radar dataset and show how image brightness and texture systematically vary across the images. We use an algorithm that reliably corrects this effect and achieve good results, as evaluated by comparisons to ground observations and other studies. The sea ice maps are useful as a basis for future MOSAiC studies.
Elie Dumas-Lefebvre and Dany Dumont
The Cryosphere, 17, 827–842, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-827-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-827-2023, 2023
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By changing the shape of ice floes, wave-induced sea ice breakup dramatically affects the large-scale dynamics of sea ice. As this process is also the trigger of multiple others, it was deemed relevant to study how breakup itself affects the ice floe size distribution. To do so, a ship sailed close to ice floes, and the breakup that it generated was recorded with a drone. The obtained data shed light on the underlying physics of wave-induced sea ice breakup.
Felix L. Müller, Stephan Paul, Stefan Hendricks, and Denise Dettmering
The Cryosphere, 17, 809–825, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-809-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-809-2023, 2023
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Thinning sea ice has significant impacts on the energy exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean. In this study we present visual and quantitative comparisons of thin-ice detections obtained from classified Cryosat-2 radar reflections and thin-ice-thickness estimates derived from MODIS thermal-infrared imagery. In addition to good comparability, the results of the study indicate the potential for a deeper understanding of sea ice in the polar seas and improved processing of altimeter data.
Maxim L. Lamare, John D. Hedley, and Martin D. King
The Cryosphere, 17, 737–751, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-737-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-737-2023, 2023
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The reflectivity of sea ice is crucial for modern climate change and for monitoring sea ice from satellites. The reflectivity depends on the angle at which the ice is viewed and the angle illuminated. The directional reflectivity is calculated as a function of viewing angle, illuminating angle, thickness, wavelength and surface roughness. Roughness cannot be considered independent of thickness, illumination angle and the wavelength. Remote sensors will use the data to image sea ice from space.
Yufang Ye, Yanbing Luo, Yan Sun, Mohammed Shokr, Signe Aaboe, Fanny Girard-Ardhuin, Fengming Hui, Xiao Cheng, and Zhuoqi Chen
The Cryosphere, 17, 279–308, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-279-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-279-2023, 2023
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Arctic sea ice type (SITY) variation is a sensitive indicator of climate change. This study gives a systematic inter-comparison and evaluation of eight SITY products. Main results include differences in SITY products being significant, with average Arctic multiyear ice extent up to 1.8×106 km2; Ku-band scatterometer SITY products generally performing better; and factors such as satellite inputs, classification methods, training datasets and post-processing highly impacting their performance.
James Anheuser, Yinghui Liu, and Jeffrey R. Key
The Cryosphere, 16, 4403–4421, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4403-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4403-2022, 2022
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A prominent part of the polar climate system is sea ice, a better understanding of which would lead to better understanding Earth's climate. Newly published methods for observing the temperature of sea ice have made possible a new method for estimating daily sea ice thickness growth from space using an energy balance. The method compares well with existing sea ice thickness observations.
Mikko Lensu and Markku Similä
The Cryosphere, 16, 4363–4377, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4363-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4363-2022, 2022
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Ice ridges form a compressing ice cover. From above they appear as walls of up to few metres in height and extend even kilometres across the ice. Below they may reach tens of metres under the sea surface. Ridges need to be observed for the purposes of ice forecasting and ice information production. This relies mostly on ridging signatures discernible in radar satellite (SAR) images. New methods to quantify ridging from SAR have been developed and are shown to agree with field observations.
Julienne Stroeve, Vishnu Nandan, Rosemary Willatt, Ruzica Dadic, Philip Rostosky, Michael Gallagher, Robbie Mallett, Andrew Barrett, Stefan Hendricks, Rasmus Tonboe, Michelle McCrystall, Mark Serreze, Linda Thielke, Gunnar Spreen, Thomas Newman, John Yackel, Robert Ricker, Michel Tsamados, Amy Macfarlane, Henna-Reetta Hannula, and Martin Schneebeli
The Cryosphere, 16, 4223–4250, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4223-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4223-2022, 2022
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Impacts of rain on snow (ROS) on satellite-retrieved sea ice variables remain to be fully understood. This study evaluates the impacts of ROS over sea ice on active and passive microwave data collected during the 2019–20 MOSAiC expedition. Rainfall and subsequent refreezing of the snowpack significantly altered emitted and backscattered radar energy, laying important groundwork for understanding their impacts on operational satellite retrievals of various sea ice geophysical variables.
Benjamin Heikki Redmond Roche and Martin D. King
The Cryosphere, 16, 3949–3970, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3949-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3949-2022, 2022
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Sea ice is bright, playing an important role in reflecting incoming solar radiation. The reflectivity of sea ice is affected by the presence of pollutants, such as crude oil, even at low concentrations. Modelling how the brightness of three types of sea ice is affected by increasing concentrations of crude oils shows that the type of oil, the type of ice, the thickness of the ice, and the size of the oil droplets are important factors. This shows that sea ice is vulnerable to oil pollution.
Alexis Anne Denton and Mary-Louise Timmermans
The Cryosphere, 16, 1563–1578, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022, 2022
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Arctic sea ice has a distribution of ice sizes that provides insight into the physics of the ice. We examine this distribution from satellite imagery from 1999 to 2014 in the Canada Basin. We find that it appears as a power law whose power becomes less negative with increasing ice concentrations and has a seasonality tied to that of ice concentration. Results suggest ice concentration be considered in models of this distribution and are important for understanding sea ice in a warming Arctic.
Stephen E. L. Howell, Mike Brady, and Alexander S. Komarov
The Cryosphere, 16, 1125–1139, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1125-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1125-2022, 2022
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We describe, apply, and validate the Environment and Climate Change Canada automated sea ice tracking system (ECCC-ASITS) that routinely generates large-scale sea ice motion (SIM) over the pan-Arctic domain using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The ECCC-ASITS was applied to the incoming image streams of Sentinel-1AB and the RADARSAT Constellation Mission from March 2020 to October 2021 using a total of 135 471 SAR images and generated new SIM datasets (i.e., 7 d 25 km and 3 d 6.25 km).
Wayne de Jager and Marcello Vichi
The Cryosphere, 16, 925–940, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-925-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-925-2022, 2022
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Ice motion can be used to better understand how weather and climate change affect the ice. Antarctic sea ice extent has shown large variability over the observed period, and dynamical features may also have changed. Our method allows for the quantification of rotational motion caused by wind and how this may have changed with time. Cyclonic motion dominates the Atlantic sector, particularly from 2015 onwards, while anticyclonic motion has remained comparatively small and unchanged.
Stefan Kern, Thomas Lavergne, Leif Toudal Pedersen, Rasmus Tage Tonboe, Louisa Bell, Maybritt Meyer, and Luise Zeigermann
The Cryosphere, 16, 349–378, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-349-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-349-2022, 2022
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High-resolution clear-sky optical satellite imagery has rarely been used to evaluate satellite passive microwave sea-ice concentration products beyond case-study level. By comparing 10 such products with sea-ice concentration estimated from > 350 such optical images in both hemispheres, we expand results of earlier evaluation studies for these products. Results stress the need to look beyond precision and accuracy and to discuss the evaluation data’s quality and filters applied in the products.
Wenkai Guo, Polona Itkin, Johannes Lohse, Malin Johansson, and Anthony Paul Doulgeris
The Cryosphere, 16, 237–257, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-237-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-237-2022, 2022
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This study uses radar satellite data categorized into different sea ice types to detect ice deformation, which is significant for climate science and ship navigation. For this, we examine radar signal differences of sea ice between two similar satellite sensors and show an optimal way to apply categorization methods across sensors, so more data can be used for this purpose. This study provides a basis for future reliable and constant detection of ice deformation remotely through satellite data.
Florent Garnier, Sara Fleury, Gilles Garric, Jérôme Bouffard, Michel Tsamados, Antoine Laforge, Marion Bocquet, Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, and Frédérique Remy
The Cryosphere, 15, 5483–5512, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5483-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5483-2021, 2021
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Snow depth data are essential to monitor the impacts of climate change on sea ice volume variations and their impacts on the climate system. For that purpose, we present and assess the altimetric snow depth product, computed in both hemispheres from CryoSat-2 and SARAL satellite data. The use of these data instead of the common climatology reduces the sea ice thickness by about 30 cm over the 2013–2019 period. These data are also crucial to argue for the launch of the CRISTAL satellite mission.
Lanqing Huang, Georg Fischer, and Irena Hajnsek
The Cryosphere, 15, 5323–5344, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5323-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5323-2021, 2021
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This study shows an elevation difference between the radar interferometric measurements and the optical measurements from a coordinated campaign over the snow-covered deformed sea ice in the western Weddell Sea, Antarctica. The objective is to correct the penetration bias of microwaves and to generate a precise sea ice topographic map, including the snow depth on top. Excellent performance for sea ice topographic retrieval is achieved with the proposed model and the developed retrieval scheme.
Isolde A. Glissenaar, Jack C. Landy, Alek A. Petty, Nathan T. Kurtz, and Julienne C. Stroeve
The Cryosphere, 15, 4909–4927, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4909-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4909-2021, 2021
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Scientists can estimate sea ice thickness using satellites that measure surface height. To determine the sea ice thickness, we also need to know the snow depth and density. This paper shows that the chosen snow depth product has a considerable impact on the findings of sea ice thickness state and trends in Baffin Bay, showing mean thinning with some snow depth products and mean thickening with others. This shows that it is important to better understand and monitor snow depth on sea ice.
Marek Muchow, Amelie U. Schmitt, and Lars Kaleschke
The Cryosphere, 15, 4527–4537, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4527-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4527-2021, 2021
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Linear-like openings in sea ice, also called leads, occur with widths from meters to kilometers. We use satellite images from Sentinel-2 with a resolution of 10 m to identify leads and measure their widths. With that we investigate the frequency of lead widths using two different statistical methods, since other studies have shown a dependency of heat exchange on the lead width. We are the first to address the sea-ice lead-width distribution in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica.
Gemma M. Brett, Daniel Price, Wolfgang Rack, and Patricia J. Langhorne
The Cryosphere, 15, 4099–4115, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4099-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4099-2021, 2021
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Ice shelf meltwater in the surface ocean affects sea ice formation, causing it to be thicker and, in particular conditions, to have a loose mass of platelet ice crystals called a sub‐ice platelet layer beneath. This causes the sea ice freeboard to stand higher above sea level. In this study, we demonstrate for the first time that the signature of ice shelf meltwater in the surface ocean manifesting as higher sea ice freeboard in McMurdo Sound is detectable from space using satellite technology.
Thomas Krumpen, Luisa von Albedyll, Helge F. Goessling, Stefan Hendricks, Bennet Juhls, Gunnar Spreen, Sascha Willmes, H. Jakob Belter, Klaus Dethloff, Christian Haas, Lars Kaleschke, Christian Katlein, Xiangshan Tian-Kunze, Robert Ricker, Philip Rostosky, Janna Rückert, Suman Singha, and Julia Sokolova
The Cryosphere, 15, 3897–3920, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3897-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3897-2021, 2021
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We use satellite data records collected along the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) drift to categorize ice conditions that shaped and characterized the floe and surroundings during the expedition. A comparison with previous years is made whenever possible. The aim of this analysis is to provide a basis and reference for subsequent research in the six main research areas of atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, biogeochemistry, remote sensing and ecology.
Thomas Lavergne, Montserrat Piñol Solé, Emily Down, and Craig Donlon
The Cryosphere, 15, 3681–3698, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3681-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3681-2021, 2021
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Pushed by winds and ocean currents, polar sea ice is on the move. We use passive microwave satellites to observe this motion. The images from their orbits are often put together into daily images before motion is measured. In our study, we measure motion from the individual orbits directly and not from the daily images. We obtain many more motion vectors, and they are more accurate. This can be used for current and future satellites, e.g. the Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR).
Céline Heuzé, Lu Zhou, Martin Mohrmann, and Adriano Lemos
The Cryosphere, 15, 3401–3421, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3401-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3401-2021, 2021
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For navigation or science planning, knowing when sea ice will open in advance is a prerequisite. Yet, to date, routine spaceborne microwave observations of sea ice are unable to do so. We present the first method based on spaceborne infrared that can forecast an opening several days ahead. We develop it specifically for the Weddell Polynya, a large hole in the Antarctic winter ice cover that unexpectedly re-opened for the first time in 40 years in 2016, and determine why the polynya opened.
Marcel Kleinherenbrink, Anton Korosov, Thomas Newman, Andreas Theodosiou, Alexander S. Komarov, Yuanhao Li, Gert Mulder, Pierre Rampal, Julienne Stroeve, and Paco Lopez-Dekker
The Cryosphere, 15, 3101–3118, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3101-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3101-2021, 2021
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Harmony is one of the Earth Explorer 10 candidates that has the chance of being selected for launch in 2028. The mission consists of two satellites that fly in formation with Sentinel-1D, which carries a side-looking radar system. By receiving Sentinel-1's signals reflected from the surface, Harmony is able to observe instantaneous elevation and two-dimensional velocity at the surface. As such, Harmony's data allow the retrieval of sea-ice drift and wave spectra in sea-ice-covered regions.
Zhixiang Yin, Xiaodong Li, Yong Ge, Cheng Shang, Xinyan Li, Yun Du, and Feng Ling
The Cryosphere, 15, 2835–2856, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2835-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2835-2021, 2021
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MODIS thermal infrared (TIR) imagery provides promising data to study the rapid variations in the Arctic turbulent heat flux (THF). The accuracy of estimated THF, however, is low (especially for small leads) due to the coarse resolution of the MODIS TIR data. We train a deep neural network to enhance the spatial resolution of estimated THF over leads from MODIS TIR imagery. The method is found to be effective and can generate a result which is close to that derived from Landsat-8 TIR imagery.
Joan Antoni Parera-Portell, Raquel Ubach, and Charles Gignac
The Cryosphere, 15, 2803–2818, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2803-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2803-2021, 2021
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We describe a new method to map sea ice and water at 500 m resolution using data acquired by the MODIS sensors. The strength of this method is that it achieves high-accuracy results and is capable of attenuating unwanted resolution-breaking effects caused by cloud masking. Our resulting March and September monthly aggregates reflect the loss of sea ice in the European Arctic during the 2000–2019 period and show the algorithm's usefulness as a sea ice monitoring tool.
Robbie D. C. Mallett, Julienne C. Stroeve, Michel Tsamados, Jack C. Landy, Rosemary Willatt, Vishnu Nandan, and Glen E. Liston
The Cryosphere, 15, 2429–2450, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2429-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2429-2021, 2021
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We re-estimate pan-Arctic sea ice thickness (SIT) values by combining data from the Envisat and CryoSat-2 missions with data from a new, reanalysis-driven snow model. Because a decreasing amount of ice is being hidden below the waterline by the weight of overlying snow, we argue that SIT may be declining faster than previously calculated in some regions. Because the snow product varies from year to year, our new SIT calculations also display much more year-to-year variability.
Renée Mie Fredensborg Hansen, Eero Rinne, Sinéad Louise Farrell, and Henriette Skourup
The Cryosphere, 15, 2511–2529, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2511-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2511-2021, 2021
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Ice navigators rely on timely information about ice conditions to ensure safe passage through ice-covered waters, and one parameter, the degree of ice ridging (DIR), is particularly useful. We have investigated the possibility of estimating DIR from the geolocated photons of ICESat-2 (IS2) in the Bay of Bothnia, show that IS2 retrievals from different DIR areas differ significantly, and present some of the first steps in creating sea ice applications beyond e.g. thickness retrieval.
Luisa von Albedyll, Christian Haas, and Wolfgang Dierking
The Cryosphere, 15, 2167–2186, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2167-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2167-2021, 2021
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Convergent sea ice motion produces a thick ice cover through ridging. We studied sea ice deformation derived from high-resolution satellite imagery and related it to the corresponding thickness change. We found that deformation explains the observed dynamic thickness change. We show that deformation can be used to model realistic ice thickness distributions. Our results revealed new relationships between thickness redistribution and deformation that could improve sea ice models.
Rasmus T. Tonboe, Vishnu Nandan, John Yackel, Stefan Kern, Leif Toudal Pedersen, and Julienne Stroeve
The Cryosphere, 15, 1811–1822, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1811-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1811-2021, 2021
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A relationship between the Ku-band radar scattering horizon and snow depth is found using a radar scattering model. This relationship has implications for (1) the use of snow climatology in the conversion of satellite radar freeboard into sea ice thickness and (2) the impact of variability in measured snow depth on the derived ice thickness. For both 1 and 2, the impact of using a snow climatology versus the actual snow depth is relatively small.
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Short summary
We show that wind redistributes snow on Arctic sea ice, and Ka- and Ku-band radar measurements detect both newly deposited snow and buried snow layers that can affect the accuracy of snow depth estimates on sea ice. Radar, laser, meteorological, and snow data were collected during the MOSAiC expedition. With frequent occurrence of storms in the Arctic, our results show that
wind-redistributed snow needs to be accounted for to improve snow depth estimates on sea ice from satellite radars.
We show that wind redistributes snow on Arctic sea ice, and Ka- and Ku-band radar measurements...
