A lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice: a case study for the Weddell Sea with high-resolution Sentinel-2 images
Using Copernicus Sentinel-2 images we derive a statistical lead-width distribution for the Weddell Sea. While previous work focused on the Arctic, this is the first lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice. Previous studies suggest that the lead-width distribution follows a power law with a pos...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4527-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/4527/2021/ |
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc88183 2023-05-15T14:02:17+02:00 A lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice: a case study for the Weddell Sea with high-resolution Sentinel-2 images Muchow, Marek Schmitt, Amelie U. Kaleschke, Lars 2021-09-28 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4527-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/4527/2021/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-15-4527-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/4527/2021/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2021 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4527-2021 2021-10-04T16:22:28Z Using Copernicus Sentinel-2 images we derive a statistical lead-width distribution for the Weddell Sea. While previous work focused on the Arctic, this is the first lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice. Previous studies suggest that the lead-width distribution follows a power law with a positive exponent; however their results for the power-law exponents are not all in agreement with each other. To detect leads we create a sea-ice surface-type classification based on 20 carefully selected cloud-free Sentinel-2 Level-1C products, which have a resolution of 10 m. The observed time period is from November 2016 until February 2018, covering only the months from November to April. We apply two different fitting methods to the measured lead widths. The first fitting method is a linear fit, while the second method is based on a maximum likelihood approach. Here, we use both methods for the same lead-width data set to observe differences in the calculated power-law exponent. To further investigate influences on the power-law exponent, we define two different thresholds: one for open-water-covered leads and one for open-water-covered and nilas-covered leads. The influence of the lead threshold on the exponent is larger for the linear fit than for the method based on the maximum likelihood approach. We show that the exponent of the lead-width distribution ranges between 1.110 and 1.413 depending on the applied fitting method and lead threshold. This exponent for the Weddell Sea sea ice is smaller than the previously observed exponents for the Arctic sea ice. Text Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Sea ice Weddell Sea Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic Arctic Weddell Weddell Sea The Cryosphere 15 9 4527 4537 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Using Copernicus Sentinel-2 images we derive a statistical lead-width distribution for the Weddell Sea. While previous work focused on the Arctic, this is the first lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice. Previous studies suggest that the lead-width distribution follows a power law with a positive exponent; however their results for the power-law exponents are not all in agreement with each other. To detect leads we create a sea-ice surface-type classification based on 20 carefully selected cloud-free Sentinel-2 Level-1C products, which have a resolution of 10 m. The observed time period is from November 2016 until February 2018, covering only the months from November to April. We apply two different fitting methods to the measured lead widths. The first fitting method is a linear fit, while the second method is based on a maximum likelihood approach. Here, we use both methods for the same lead-width data set to observe differences in the calculated power-law exponent. To further investigate influences on the power-law exponent, we define two different thresholds: one for open-water-covered leads and one for open-water-covered and nilas-covered leads. The influence of the lead threshold on the exponent is larger for the linear fit than for the method based on the maximum likelihood approach. We show that the exponent of the lead-width distribution ranges between 1.110 and 1.413 depending on the applied fitting method and lead threshold. This exponent for the Weddell Sea sea ice is smaller than the previously observed exponents for the Arctic sea ice. |
format |
Text |
author |
Muchow, Marek Schmitt, Amelie U. Kaleschke, Lars |
spellingShingle |
Muchow, Marek Schmitt, Amelie U. Kaleschke, Lars A lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice: a case study for the Weddell Sea with high-resolution Sentinel-2 images |
author_facet |
Muchow, Marek Schmitt, Amelie U. Kaleschke, Lars |
author_sort |
Muchow, Marek |
title |
A lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice: a case study for the Weddell Sea with high-resolution Sentinel-2 images |
title_short |
A lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice: a case study for the Weddell Sea with high-resolution Sentinel-2 images |
title_full |
A lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice: a case study for the Weddell Sea with high-resolution Sentinel-2 images |
title_fullStr |
A lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice: a case study for the Weddell Sea with high-resolution Sentinel-2 images |
title_full_unstemmed |
A lead-width distribution for Antarctic sea ice: a case study for the Weddell Sea with high-resolution Sentinel-2 images |
title_sort |
lead-width distribution for antarctic sea ice: a case study for the weddell sea with high-resolution sentinel-2 images |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4527-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/4527/2021/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Arctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Arctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Sea ice Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Sea ice Weddell Sea |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-15-4527-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/4527/2021/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4527-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
4527 |
op_container_end_page |
4537 |
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1766272465147789312 |