PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF SEA ICE FREEBOARD MEASUREMENTS OF BEAUFORT SEA FROM CRYOSAT-2 ALTIMETRY

• Published in: The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
• Main Authors: Zhang, S., Zuo, Y., Xiao, F., Yuan, L., Geng, T., Xuan, Y.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Arctic; Beaufort Sea; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W13-1811-2019; https://www.int-arch-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/XLII-2-W13/1811/2019/

Satellite altimetry has been used to observe the Arctic sea ice in long term and large scale, and the records show a continued decline for Arctic sea ice thickness over decades. In this study, the sea ice freeboard in Beaufort Sea of Arctic have been estimated using CryoSat-2 data, and validated with Upward Looking Sonar (ULS) data of Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project (BGEP). The results show an obvious seasonal variation of the Beaufort Sea with a high reliability estimation of the sea ice freeboard. The average height of the sea ice freeboard increase from January to March and achieve the maximum value 0.38 m in March. The sea ice melts after March and the average height of the sea ice freeboard reduces to the minimum 0.12 m in August. In the next few months the sea water begins to freeze and the average height of the sea ice freeboard will increase to the maximum value.