Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations
A melting snow layer on Arctic sea ice, as a composition of ice, liquid water, and air, supplies meltwater that may trigger the formation of melt ponds. As a result, surface reflection properties are altered during the melting season and thereby may change the surface energy budget. To study these p...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:amt110635 2023-09-26T15:14:08+02:00 Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations Rosenburg, Sophie Lange, Charlotte Jäkel, Evelyn Schäfer, Michael Ehrlich, André Wendisch, Manfred 2023-08-24 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023 https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/16/3915/2023/ eng eng doi:10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023 https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/16/3915/2023/ eISSN: 1867-8548 Text 2023 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023 2023-08-28T16:24:15Z A melting snow layer on Arctic sea ice, as a composition of ice, liquid water, and air, supplies meltwater that may trigger the formation of melt ponds. As a result, surface reflection properties are altered during the melting season and thereby may change the surface energy budget. To study these processes, sea ice surface reflection properties were derived from airborne measurements using imaging spectrometers. The data were collected over the closed and marginal Arctic sea ice zone north of Svalbard in May–June 2017. A retrieval approach based on different absorption indices of pure ice and liquid water in the near-infrared spectral range was applied to the campaign data. The technique enabled us to retrieve the spatial distribution of the liquid water fraction of a snow layer and the effective radius of snow grains. For observations from three research flights, liquid water fractions between 6.5 % and 17.3 % and snow grain sizes between 129 and 414 µm were derived. In addition, the melt pond depth was retrieved based on an existing approach that isolates the dependence of a melt pond reflection spectrum on the pond depth by eliminating the reflection contribution of the pond ice bottom. The application of the approach to several case studies revealed a high variability of melt pond depth, with maximum depths of 0.33 m. The results were discussed considering uncertainties arising from the airborne reflection measurements, the setup of radiative transfer simulations, and the retrieval method itself. Overall, the presented retrieval methods show the potential and the limitations of airborne measurements with imaging spectrometers to map the transition phase of the Arctic sea ice surface, examining the snow layer composition and melt pond depth. Text Arctic Sea ice Svalbard Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Svalbard Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 16 16 3915 3930 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
A melting snow layer on Arctic sea ice, as a composition of ice, liquid water, and air, supplies meltwater that may trigger the formation of melt ponds. As a result, surface reflection properties are altered during the melting season and thereby may change the surface energy budget. To study these processes, sea ice surface reflection properties were derived from airborne measurements using imaging spectrometers. The data were collected over the closed and marginal Arctic sea ice zone north of Svalbard in May–June 2017. A retrieval approach based on different absorption indices of pure ice and liquid water in the near-infrared spectral range was applied to the campaign data. The technique enabled us to retrieve the spatial distribution of the liquid water fraction of a snow layer and the effective radius of snow grains. For observations from three research flights, liquid water fractions between 6.5 % and 17.3 % and snow grain sizes between 129 and 414 µm were derived. In addition, the melt pond depth was retrieved based on an existing approach that isolates the dependence of a melt pond reflection spectrum on the pond depth by eliminating the reflection contribution of the pond ice bottom. The application of the approach to several case studies revealed a high variability of melt pond depth, with maximum depths of 0.33 m. The results were discussed considering uncertainties arising from the airborne reflection measurements, the setup of radiative transfer simulations, and the retrieval method itself. Overall, the presented retrieval methods show the potential and the limitations of airborne measurements with imaging spectrometers to map the transition phase of the Arctic sea ice surface, examining the snow layer composition and melt pond depth. |
format |
Text |
author |
Rosenburg, Sophie Lange, Charlotte Jäkel, Evelyn Schäfer, Michael Ehrlich, André Wendisch, Manfred |
spellingShingle |
Rosenburg, Sophie Lange, Charlotte Jäkel, Evelyn Schäfer, Michael Ehrlich, André Wendisch, Manfred Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations |
author_facet |
Rosenburg, Sophie Lange, Charlotte Jäkel, Evelyn Schäfer, Michael Ehrlich, André Wendisch, Manfred |
author_sort |
Rosenburg, Sophie |
title |
Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations |
title_short |
Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations |
title_full |
Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations |
title_fullStr |
Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations |
title_sort |
retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023 https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/16/3915/2023/ |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice Svalbard |
op_source |
eISSN: 1867-8548 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023 https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/16/3915/2023/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
16 |
container_start_page |
3915 |
op_container_end_page |
3930 |
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1778134828211765248 |