Sea Ice Monitoring by Remote Sensing

• Main Authors: Sandven, Stein, Johannessen, Ola M., Kloster, Kjell
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2000
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470027318.a2320; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9780470027318.a2320

Abstract Sea ice is defined as ice which is formed as a result of freezing of seawater. Sea ice occurs at the surface of the ocean in areas where the surface temperature is cooled to the freezing point, which is about −1.8°C for sea water with a salinity of about 35 parts per thousand. Ice formed in lakes and rivers and icebergs coming from glaciers and ice sheets are not defined as sea ice. Monitoring by remote sensing is defined as any measurement technique which can be used to observe sea ice repeatedly by instruments on board earth observation satellites. Monitoring also includes the process of making observational data available for users a short time after the observations have been obtained (i.e. a few hours). Remote sensing of ice can also be done with aircraft, submarines and other vehicles, but these techniques are not discussed in this article.