Taking a look at both sides of the ice: comparison of ice thickness and drift speed as observed from moored, airborne and shore-based instruments near Barrow, Alaska

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Mahoney, Andrew, Eicken, Hajo, Fukamachi, Yasushi, Ohshima, Kay I., Simizu, Daisuke, Kambhamettu, Chandra, Rovith, M. V., Hendricks, Stefan, Jones, Joshua
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: INT GLACIOL SOC 2015
• Subjects: Annals of Glaciology; Barrow; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/38318/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/38318/1/IGSpaper_resubmit.pdf; http://www.igsoc.org/annals/56/69/a69a565.html; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45727; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45727.d001

Data from the Seasonal Ice Zone Observing Network (SIZONet) acquired near Barrow, Alaska, during the 2009/10 ice season allow novel comparisons between measurements of ice thickness and velocity. An airborne electromagnetic survey that passed over a moored Ice Profiling Sonar (IPS) provided coincident independent measurements of total ice and snow thickness and ice draft at a scale of 10 km. Once differences in sampling footprint size are accounted for, we reconcile the respective probability distributions and estimate the thickness of level sea ice at 1.48 +/- 0.1 m, with a snow depth of 0.12 +/- 0.07 m. We also complete what we believe is the first independent validation of radar-derived ice velocities by comparing measurements from a coastal radar with those from an under-ice acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). After applying a median filter to reduce high-frequency scatter in the radar-derived data, we find good agreement with the ADCP bottom-tracked ice velocities. With increasing regulatory and operational needs for sea-ice data, including the number and thickness of pressure ridges, coordinated observing networks such as SIZONet can provide the means of reducing uncertainties inherent in individual datasets.