Snow depth estimation on leadless landfast ice using Cryo2Ice satellite observations

Saha, Monojit; Stroeve, Julienne; Isleifson, Dustin; Yackel, John; Nandan, Vishnu; Landy, Jack Christopher; Lam, Hoi Ming

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-325-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-325-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-325-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 1

Research article

|

27 Jan 2025

Research article |

| 27 Jan 2025

Snow depth estimation on leadless landfast ice using Cryo2Ice satellite observations

Monojit Saha, Julienne Stroeve, Dustin Isleifson, John Yackel, Vishnu Nandan, Jack Christopher Landy, and Hoi Ming Lam

Data sets

ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Sea Ice Height Quick Look (ATL07QL, Version 6) R. Kwok et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL07.006

Cambridge Bay Snow Depth - April 2022 M. Saha et al. https://doi.org/10.34992/j86x-dc30

EO-CAT ESA https://eocat.esa.int/sec/#data-services-area

Short summary

Snow on sea ice is vital for near-shore sea ice geophysical and biological processes. Past studies have measured snow depths using the satellite altimeters Cryosat-2 and ICESat-2 (Cryo2Ice), but estimating sea surface height from leadless landfast sea ice remains challenging. Snow depths from Cryo2Ice are compared to in situ data after adjusting for tides. Realistic snow depths are retrieved, but differences in roughness, satellite footprints, and snow geophysical properties are identified.