Estimation of turbulent heat flux over leads using satellite thermal images
Sea ice leads are an important feature in pack ice in the Arctic. Even covered by thin ice, leads can still serve as prime windows for heat exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean, especially in the winter. Lead geometry and distribution in the Arctic have been studied using optical and microw...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc73214 2023-05-15T15:00:47+02:00 Estimation of turbulent heat flux over leads using satellite thermal images Qu, Meng Pang, Xiaoping Zhao, Xi Zhang, Jinlun Ji, Qing Fan, Pei 2019-06-04 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1565-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/1565/2019/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-13-1565-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/1565/2019/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2019 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1565-2019 2020-07-20T16:22:48Z Sea ice leads are an important feature in pack ice in the Arctic. Even covered by thin ice, leads can still serve as prime windows for heat exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean, especially in the winter. Lead geometry and distribution in the Arctic have been studied using optical and microwave remote sensing data, but turbulent heat flux over leads has only been measured on-site during a few special expeditions. In this study, we derive turbulent heat flux through leads at different scales using a combination of surface temperature and lead distribution from remote sensing images and meteorological parameters from a reanalysis dataset. First, ice surface temperature (IST) was calculated from Landsat-8 Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) thermal images using a split-window algorithm; then, lead pixels were segmented from colder ice. Heat flux over leads was estimated using two empirical models: bulk aerodynamic formulae and a fetch-limited model with lead width from Landsat-8. Results show that even though the lead area from MODIS is a little larger, the length of leads is underestimated by 72.9 % in MODIS data compared to TIRS data due to the inability to resolve small leads. Heat flux estimated from Landsat-8 TIRS data using bulk formulae is 56.70 % larger than that from MODIS data. When the fetch-limited model was applied, turbulent heat flux calculated from TIRS data is 32.34 % higher than that from bulk formulae. In both cases, small leads accounted for more than a quarter of total heat flux over leads, mainly due to the large area, though the heat flux estimated using the fetch-limited model is 41.39 % larger. A greater contribution from small leads can be expected with larger air–ocean temperature differences and stronger winds. Text Arctic Sea ice Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic The Cryosphere 13 6 1565 1582 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Sea ice leads are an important feature in pack ice in the Arctic. Even covered by thin ice, leads can still serve as prime windows for heat exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean, especially in the winter. Lead geometry and distribution in the Arctic have been studied using optical and microwave remote sensing data, but turbulent heat flux over leads has only been measured on-site during a few special expeditions. In this study, we derive turbulent heat flux through leads at different scales using a combination of surface temperature and lead distribution from remote sensing images and meteorological parameters from a reanalysis dataset. First, ice surface temperature (IST) was calculated from Landsat-8 Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) thermal images using a split-window algorithm; then, lead pixels were segmented from colder ice. Heat flux over leads was estimated using two empirical models: bulk aerodynamic formulae and a fetch-limited model with lead width from Landsat-8. Results show that even though the lead area from MODIS is a little larger, the length of leads is underestimated by 72.9 % in MODIS data compared to TIRS data due to the inability to resolve small leads. Heat flux estimated from Landsat-8 TIRS data using bulk formulae is 56.70 % larger than that from MODIS data. When the fetch-limited model was applied, turbulent heat flux calculated from TIRS data is 32.34 % higher than that from bulk formulae. In both cases, small leads accounted for more than a quarter of total heat flux over leads, mainly due to the large area, though the heat flux estimated using the fetch-limited model is 41.39 % larger. A greater contribution from small leads can be expected with larger air–ocean temperature differences and stronger winds. |
format |
Text |
author |
Qu, Meng Pang, Xiaoping Zhao, Xi Zhang, Jinlun Ji, Qing Fan, Pei |
spellingShingle |
Qu, Meng Pang, Xiaoping Zhao, Xi Zhang, Jinlun Ji, Qing Fan, Pei Estimation of turbulent heat flux over leads using satellite thermal images |
author_facet |
Qu, Meng Pang, Xiaoping Zhao, Xi Zhang, Jinlun Ji, Qing Fan, Pei |
author_sort |
Qu, Meng |
title |
Estimation of turbulent heat flux over leads using satellite thermal images |
title_short |
Estimation of turbulent heat flux over leads using satellite thermal images |
title_full |
Estimation of turbulent heat flux over leads using satellite thermal images |
title_fullStr |
Estimation of turbulent heat flux over leads using satellite thermal images |
title_full_unstemmed |
Estimation of turbulent heat flux over leads using satellite thermal images |
title_sort |
estimation of turbulent heat flux over leads using satellite thermal images |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1565-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/1565/2019/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-13-1565-2019 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/13/1565/2019/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1565-2019 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1565 |
op_container_end_page |
1582 |
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1766332850922061824 |