ALBERT

Description: Satellite observations of microwave brightness temperatures between 19 GHz and 85 GHz are the main data source for operational sea-ice monitoring. However, the sea ice microwave emissivity is subject to pronounced seasonal variations and shows significant hemispheric contrasts that mainly arise from differences in the rate and strength of snow metamorphism and melt. We use the thermodynamic snow model SNTHERM and the microwave emission model MEMLS to identify the contribution of regional patterns in atmospheric energy fluxes to surface emissivity variations on Arctic and Antarctic sea ice between 2000 and 2009. The obtained emissivity data reveal a pronounced seasonal cycle with a large regional variability. The emissivity variability increases from winter to early summer and is more pronounced in the Antarctic. In the pre-melt period (January–May, July–November) the variations in surface microwave emissivity due to diurnal, regional and inter-annual variability of atmospheric forcing reach up to 3.4%, 4.3%, and 9.7% for 19 GHz, 37 GHz and 85 GHz channels, respectively. Small but significant emissivity trends can be observed in the Weddell Sea during November and December as well as in Fram Strait during February. The obtained emissivity data lend themselves for an assessment of sea-ice concentration and snow-depth algorithm accuracies.

Description: In preparation for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission we investigated the potential of L-band (1.4 GHz) radiometery to measure sea ice thickness. Sea ice brightness temperature was measured at 1.4 GHz and ice thickness were measured along nearly coincident flight tracks during the SMOS Sea-Ice campaign in the Bay of Bothnia in March 2007. A research aircraft was equipped with the L-band Radiometer EMIRAD and coordinated with helicopter based electromagnetic induction (EM) ice thickness measurements. We developed a three layer (ocean-ice-atmosphere) dielectric slab model for the calculation of ice thickness from brightness temperature. The dielectric properties depend on the relative brine volume which is a function of the bulk ice salinity and temperature. The model calculations suggest a thickness sensitivity of up to 1.5 m for low-salinity (multi-year or brackish) sea ice. For Arctic first year ice the modeled thickness sensitivity is roughly half a meter. It reduces to a few centimeters for temperatures approaching the melting point. Although the campaign was conducted under such unfavorable melting conditions and despite limited spatial overlap between the L-band and EM-measurements was small we demonstrate a large potential for retrieving the ice thickness in the range of 0.2 to 1.5 m. Furthermore, we show that the ice thickness derived from SMOS measurements would be complementary to ESA's CryoSat-2 mission in terms of the error characteristics and the spatio-temporal coverage.

Description: Although it is well known that radar waves penetrate into snow and sea ice, the exact mechanisms for radar-altimeter scattering and its link to the depth of the effective scattering surface from sea ice are still unknown. Previously proposed mechanisms linked the snow ice interface, i.e. the dominating scattering horizon, directly with the depth of the effective scattering surface. However, simulations using a multilayer radar scattering model show that the effective scattering surface is affected by snow-cover and ice properties. With the coming Cryosat-2 (planned launch 2009) satellite radar altimeter it is proposed that sea ice thickness can be derived by measuring its freeboard. In this study we evaluate the radar altimeter sea ice thickness retrieval uncertainty in terms of floe buoyancy, radar penetration and ice type distribution using both a scattering model and ''Archimedes' principle''. The effect of the snow cover on the floe buoyancy and the radar penetration and on the ice cover spatial and temporal variability is assessed from field campaign measurements in the Arctic and Antarctic. In addition to these well known uncertainties we use high resolution RADARSAT SAR data to simulate errors due to the variability of the effective scattering surface as a result of the sub-footprint spatial backscatter and elevation distribution sometimes called preferential sampling. In particular in areas where ridges represent a significant part of the ice volume (e.g. the Lincoln Sea) the simulated altimeter thickness estimate is lower than the real average footprint thickness. This means that the errors are large, yet manageable if the relevant quantities are known a priori. A discussion of the radar altimeter ice thickness retrieval uncertainties concludes the paper.

Description: A combined interpretation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite images and helicopter electromagnetic (HEM) sea-ice thickness data has provided an estimate of sea-ice volume formed in Laptev Sea polynyas during the winter of 2007/08. The evolution of the surveyed sea-ice areas, which were formed between late December 2007 and middle April 2008, was tracked using a series of SAR images with a sampling interval of 2–3 days. Approximately 160 km of HEM data recorded in April 2008 provided sea-ice thicknesses along profiles that transected sea ice varying in age from 1 to 116 days. For the volume estimates, thickness information along the HEM profiles was extrapolated to zones of the same age. The error of areal mean thickness information was estimated to be between 0.2 m for younger ice and up to 1.55 m for older ice, with the primary error source being the spatially limited HEM coverage. Our results have demonstrated that the modal thicknesses and mean thicknesses of level ice correlated with the sea-ice age, but that varying dynamic and thermodynamic sea-ice growth conditions resulted in a rather heterogeneous sea-ice thickness distribution on scales of tens of kilometers. Taking all uncertainties into account, total sea-ice area and volume produced within the entire surveyed area were 52 650 km2 and 93.6 ± 26.6 km3. The surveyed polynya contributed 2.0 ± 0.5% of the sea-ice produced throughout the Arctic during the 2007/08 winter. The SAR-HEM volume estimate compares well with the 112 km3 ice production calculated with a~high-resolution ocean sea-ice model. Measured modal and mean-level ice thicknesses correlate with calculated freezing-degree-day thicknesses with a factor of 0.87–0.89, which was too low to justify the assumption of homogeneous thermodynamic growth conditions in the area, or indicates a strong dynamic thickening of level ice by rafting of even thicker ice.

Description: Fram Strait is the main gateway for sea ice export out of the Arctic Ocean, and therefore observations there give insight into composition and properties of Arctic sea ice in general and how it varies over time. An extensive data set of ground-based and airborne electromagnetic ice thickness measurements collected between 2001 and 2012 is presented here, including long transects well into the southern part of the Transpolar Drift obtained using fixed-wing aircrafts. The source area for the surveyed ice is primarily the Laptev Sea, and the estimated age is consistent with a decreased from 3 to 2 years between 1990 and 2012. The data consistently also show a general thinning for the last decade, with a decrease in modal thickness of second year and multiyear ice, and a decrease in mean thickness and fraction of ice thicker than 3 m. Local melting in the strait was investigated in two surveys performed in the downstream direction, showing a decrease of 0.19 m degree−1 latitude south of 81° N probably driven by bottom melting from warm water of Atlantic origin. Further north variability in ice thickness is more related to differences in age and deformation. The thickness observations were combined with ice area export estimates to calculate summer volume fluxes of sea ice. This shows that it is possible to determine volume fluxes through Fram Strait during summer when satellite based sea ice thickness information is missing. While the ice area export based on satellite remote sensing shows positive trends since 2001, the mean fluxes during summer (July and August) are small (18 km3), and long-term trends are uncertain due to the limited surveys available.

Description: This is an investigation to quantify the influence of the sub-ice platelet layer on satellite measurements of total freeboard and their conversion to thickness of Antarctic sea ice. The sub-ice platelet layer forms as a result of the seaward advection of supercooled ice shelf water from beneath ice shelves. This ice shelf water provides an oceanic heat sink promoting the formation of platelet crystals which accumulate at the sea ice–ocean interface. The build-up of this porous layer increases sea ice freeboard, and if not accounted for, leads to overestimates of sea ice thickness from surface elevation measurements. In order to quantify this buoyant effect, the solid fraction of the sub-ice platelet layer must be estimated. An extensive in situ data set measured in 2011 in McMurdo Sound in the south-western Ross Sea is used to achieve this. We use drill-hole measurements and the hydrostatic equilibrium assumption to estimate a mean value for the solid fraction of this sub-ice platelet layer of 0.16. This is highly dependent upon the uncertainty in sea ice density. We test this value with independent Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) surface elevation data to estimate sea ice thickness. We find that sea ice thickness can be overestimated by up to 19%, with a mean deviation of 12% as a result of the influence of the sub-ice platelet layer. It is concluded that in close proximity to ice shelves this influence should be considered universally when undertaking sea ice thickness investigations using remote sensing surface elevation measurements.

Description: A combined interpretation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite images and helicopter electromagnetic (HEM) sea-ice thickness data has provided an estimate of sea-ice volume formed in Laptev Sea polynyas during the winter of 2007/08. The evolution of the surveyed sea-ice areas, which were formed between late December 2007 and middle April 2008, was tracked using a series of SAR images with a sampling interval of 2–3 days. Approximately 160 km of HEM data recorded in April 2008 provided sea-ice thicknesses along profiles that transected sea-ice varying in age from 1–116 days. For the volume estimates, thickness information along the HEM profiles was extrapolated to zones of the same age. The error of areal mean thickness information was estimated to be between 0.2 m for younger ice and up to 1.55 m for older ice, with the primary error source being the spatially limited HEM coverage. Our results have demonstrated that the modal thicknesses and mean thicknesses of level ice correlated with the sea-ice age, but that varying dynamic and thermodynamic sea-ice growth conditions resulted in a rather heterogeneous sea-ice thickness distribution on scales of tens of kilometers. Taking all uncertainties into account, total sea-ice area and volume produced within the entire surveyed area were 52 650 km2 and 93.6 ± 26.6 km3. The surveyed polynya contributed 2.0 ± 0.5% of the sea-ice produced throughout the Arctic during the 2007/08 winter. The SAR-HEM volume estimate compares well with the 112 km3 ice production calculated with a high resolution ocean sea-ice model. Measured modal and mean-level ice thicknesses correlate with calculated freezing-degree-day thicknesses with a factor of 0.87–0.89, which was too low to justify the assumption of homogeneous thermodynamic growth conditions in the area, or indicates a strong dynamic thickening of level ice by rafting of even thicker ice.

Description: Fram Strait is the main gateway for sea ice export out of the Arctic Ocean, and therefore observations there give insight into the composition and properties of Arctic sea ice in general and how it varies over time. A data set of ground-based and airborne electromagnetic ice thickness measurements collected during summer between 2001 and 2012 is presented here, including long transects well into the southern part of the Transpolar Drift obtained using fixed-wing aircrafts. The primary source of the surveyed sea ice leaving Fram Strait is the Laptev Sea and its age has decreased from 3 to 2 years between 1990 and 2012. The thickness data consistently also show a general thinning of sea ice for the last decade, with a decrease in modal thickness of second year and multiyear ice, and a decrease in mean thickness and fraction of ice thicker than 3 m. Local melting in the strait was investigated in two surveys performed in the downstream direction, showing a decrease in sea ice thickness of 0.19 m degree−1 latitude south of 81° N. Further north variability in ice thickness is more related to differences in age and deformation. The thickness observations were combined with ice area export estimates to calculate summer volume fluxes of sea ice. While satellite data show that monthly ice area export had positive trends since 1980 (10.9  ×  103 km2 decade−1), the summer (July and August) ice area export is low with high uncertainties. The average volume export amounts to 16.78 km3. Naturally, the volume flux estimates are limited to the period when airborne thickness surveys are available. Nevertheless, we could show that the combination of satellite data and airborne observations can be used to determine volume fluxes through Fram Strait and as such, can be used to bridge the lack of satellite-based sea ice thickness information in summer.

Description: This is an investigation to quantify the influence of the sub-ice platelet layer on satellite measurements of total freeboard and their conversion to thickness of Antarctic sea ice. The sub-ice platelet layer forms as a result of the seaward advection of supercooled ice shelf water from beneath ice shelves. This ice shelf water provides an oceanic heat sink promoting the formation of platelet crystals which accumulate at the sea ice–ocean interface. The build-up of this porous layer increases sea ice freeboard, and if not accounted for, leads to overestimates of sea ice thickness from surface elevation measurements. In order to quantify this buoyant effect, the solid fraction of the sub-ice platelet layer must be estimated. An extensive in situ data set measured in 2011 in McMurdo Sound in the southwestern Ross Sea is used to achieve this. We use drill-hole measurements and the hydrostatic equilibrium assumption to estimate a mean value for the solid fraction of this sub-ice platelet layer of 0.16. This is highly dependent upon the uncertainty in sea ice density. We test this value with independent Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) surface elevation data to estimate sea ice thickness. We find that sea ice thickness can be overestimated by up to 19%, with a mean deviation of 12% as a result of the influence of the sub-ice platelet layer. It is concluded that within 100 km of an ice shelf this influence might need to be considered when undertaking sea ice thickness investigations using remote sensing surface elevation measurements.