Assimilation of radar freeboard and snow altimetry observations in the Arctic and Antarctic with a coupled ocean/sea ice modelling system

Chenal, Aliette; Garric, Gilles; Testut, Charles-Emmanuel; Hamon, Mathieu; Ruggiero, Giovanni; Garnier, Florent; Le Traon, Pierre-Yves

doi:10.5194/tc-20-369-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-369-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-369-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 1

Research article

|

19 Jan 2026

Research article |

| 19 Jan 2026

Assimilation of radar freeboard and snow altimetry observations in the Arctic and Antarctic with a coupled ocean/sea ice modelling system

Aliette Chenal, Gilles Garric, Charles-Emmanuel Testut, Mathieu Hamon, Giovanni Ruggiero, Florent Garnier, and Pierre-Yves Le Traon

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-369-2026-supplement

Data sets

IceBridge Sea Ice Freeboard, Snow Depth, and Thickness Quick Look (NSIDC-0708, Version 1) N. Kurtz et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/GRIXZ91DE0L9

SMOS-derived sea ice thickness in the Antarctic from 2010 to 2020 X. Tian-Kunze and L. Kaleschke https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.934732

ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Daily and Monthly Gridded Sea Ice Freeboard (ATL20, Version 4) A. A. Petty et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL20.004

Short summary

This study proposes to improve the representation of ice and snow volumes in the Arctic and Antarctic based on a novel multivariate assimilation method using freeboard radar and snow depth satellite data. The approach leads to an improved sea ice and snow volume representation, even during summer when satellite data is limited. The performance of the assimilated system is better in the Arctic than in Antarctica, where ocean/ice interactions play a key role.