Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery
The sea-ice floe size distribution (FSD) characterizes the sea-ice response to atmospheric and oceanic forcing and is important for understanding and modeling the evolving ice pack in a warming Arctic. FSDs are evaluated from 78 floe-segmented high-resolution (1 m) optical satellite images capturing...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/ |
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc99618 2023-05-15T15:10:10+02:00 Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery Denton, Alexis Anne Timmermans, Mary-Louise 2022-05-04 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2022 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 2022-05-09T16:22:28Z The sea-ice floe size distribution (FSD) characterizes the sea-ice response to atmospheric and oceanic forcing and is important for understanding and modeling the evolving ice pack in a warming Arctic. FSDs are evaluated from 78 floe-segmented high-resolution (1 m) optical satellite images capturing a range of settings and sea-ice states during spring through fall from 1999 to 2014 in the Canada Basin. For any given image, the structure of the FSD is found to be sensitive to a classification threshold value (i.e., to specify an image pixel as being either water or ice) used in image segmentation, and an approach to account for this sensitivity is presented. The FSDs are found to exhibit a single power-law regime between floe areas 50 m 2 and 5 km 2 , characterized by exponents (slopes in log-log space) in the range − 2.03 to − 1.65. A distinct linear relationship between slopes and sea-ice concentrations is found, with steeper slopes (i.e., a larger proportion of smaller to larger floes) corresponding to lower sea-ice concentrations. Further, a seasonal variation in slopes is found for fixed sites in the Canada Basin that undergo a seasonal cycle in sea-ice concentration, while sites with extensive sea-ice cover year-round do not exhibit any seasonal change in FSD properties. Our results suggest that sea-ice concentration should be considered in any characterization of a time-varying FSD (for use in sea-ice models, for example). Text Arctic canada basin ice pack Sea ice Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Canada The Cryosphere 16 5 1563 1578 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
The sea-ice floe size distribution (FSD) characterizes the sea-ice response to atmospheric and oceanic forcing and is important for understanding and modeling the evolving ice pack in a warming Arctic. FSDs are evaluated from 78 floe-segmented high-resolution (1 m) optical satellite images capturing a range of settings and sea-ice states during spring through fall from 1999 to 2014 in the Canada Basin. For any given image, the structure of the FSD is found to be sensitive to a classification threshold value (i.e., to specify an image pixel as being either water or ice) used in image segmentation, and an approach to account for this sensitivity is presented. The FSDs are found to exhibit a single power-law regime between floe areas 50 m 2 and 5 km 2 , characterized by exponents (slopes in log-log space) in the range − 2.03 to − 1.65. A distinct linear relationship between slopes and sea-ice concentrations is found, with steeper slopes (i.e., a larger proportion of smaller to larger floes) corresponding to lower sea-ice concentrations. Further, a seasonal variation in slopes is found for fixed sites in the Canada Basin that undergo a seasonal cycle in sea-ice concentration, while sites with extensive sea-ice cover year-round do not exhibit any seasonal change in FSD properties. Our results suggest that sea-ice concentration should be considered in any characterization of a time-varying FSD (for use in sea-ice models, for example). |
format |
Text |
author |
Denton, Alexis Anne Timmermans, Mary-Louise |
spellingShingle |
Denton, Alexis Anne Timmermans, Mary-Louise Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
author_facet |
Denton, Alexis Anne Timmermans, Mary-Louise |
author_sort |
Denton, Alexis Anne |
title |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_short |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_full |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_fullStr |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_full_unstemmed |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_sort |
characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the canada basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/ |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic canada basin ice pack Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic canada basin ice pack Sea ice |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
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16 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1563 |
op_container_end_page |
1578 |
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1766341218343583744 |