Articles | Volume 20, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1199-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1199-2026
Research article
 | 
16 Feb 2026
Research article |  | 16 Feb 2026

Empirical classification of dry-wet snow status in Antarctica using multi-frequency passive microwave observations

Marion Leduc-Leballeur, Ghislain Picard, Pierre Zeiger, and Giovanni Macelloni

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Cited articles

Abdalati, W. and Steffen, K.: Snowmelt on the Greenland ice sheet as derived from passive microwave satellite data, Journal of Climate, 10, 165–175, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1997)010<0165:SOTGIS>2.0.CO;2, 1997. a
Banwell, A. F., Datta, R. T., Dell, R. L., Moussavi, M., Brucker, L., Picard, G., Shuman, C. A., and Stevens, L. A.: The 32-year record-high surface melt in 2019/2020 on the northern George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, The Cryosphere, 15, 909–925, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-909-2021, 2021. a
Banwell, A. F., Wever, N., Dunmire, D., and Picard, G.: Quantifying Antarctic-Wide Ice-Shelf Surface Melt Volume Using Microwave and Firn Model Data: 1980 to 2021, Geophysical Research Letters, 50, e2023GL102744, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL102744, 2023. a
Brucker, L., Picard, G., Arnaud, L., Barnola, J.-M., Schneebeli, M., Brunjail, H., Lefebvre, E., and Fily, M.: Modeling time series of microwave brightness temperature at Dome C, Antarctica, using vertically resolved snow temperature and microstructure measurements, Journal of Glaciology, 57, 171–182, https://doi.org/10.3189/002214311795306736, 2011. a, b
Champollion, N., Picard, G., Arnaud, L., Lefebvre, É., Macelloni, G., Rémy, F., and Fily, M.: Marked decrease in the near-surface snow density retrieved by AMSR-E satellite at Dome C, Antarctica, between 2002 and 2011, The Cryosphere, 13, 1215–1232, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1215-2019, 2019. a
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Short summary
This study presents a quantitative and synthetic classification of the snowpack in 10 dry-wet status by aggregating separate binary indicators derived from satellite observations. The classification follows the expected evolution of the melt season: night refreezing is frequent at the onset, sustained melting is observed during the summer peak, and remnant liquid water at depth occurs at the end. This dataset improves the knowledge of melt processes using passive microwave remote sensing.
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