Passive Microwave Methods of Determining

• Main Authors: Sea Ice Concentrations, Joel Finnis
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.536.1386; http://irina.eas.gatech.edu/ATOC5235_2003/Joel_Finnis-paper.pdf

Long recognized as an important ocean feature, the study of sea ice has always been hindered by its wide area of coverage in the harshest areas of the planet. The proliferation of remote sensing techniques and platforms has helped immensely, allowing ice to be examined on large scales and at safe distances for the first time. Although early satellite ice studies were limited by the lack of sunlight in the poles during winter and frequent polar cloud cover, the launch of microwave radiometers in the 70’s allowed ice extent to be determined year round without significant interference from the atmosphere or clouds. Although newer technologies promise better resolutions, passive microwave retrievals of ice concentrations continue to be widely used by the scientific community and numerous government agencies to track changes in ice extent. This paper examines the Bootstrap and NASA Team ice retrieval algorithms, and discusses the reasons they continue to be used.