Satellite retrieved sea ice concentration uncertainty and its effect on modelling wave evolution in marginal ice zones
Satellite retrieved Sea Ice Concentration (SIC) uncertainty is studied with respect to its effect on spectral wave modelling of ice-covered water. Eight SIC products based on four algorithms applied to SSMIS and AMSR2 data were analysed. They were compared with sea-truth images captured from a 12 da...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-285 https://www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/tc-2019-285/ |
| Summary: | Satellite retrieved Sea Ice Concentration (SIC) uncertainty is studied with respect to its effect on spectral wave modelling of ice-covered water. Eight SIC products based on four algorithms applied to SSMIS and AMSR2 data were analysed. They were compared with sea-truth images captured from a 12 day fixed Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) transect observation during the November 2018 R/V Mirai expedition in the Chukchi Sea. The analysis shows the refreezing sea ice field is highly variable in time and space, and the uncertainty of SIC estimates is considerable. A wave hindcast experiment for the observation period using these SIC products as model forcing has shown that the SIC uncertainty translates to wave prediction discrepancies in ice cover. There is evidence that bivariate uncertainty data (model significant wave heights and SIC forcing) are correlated, although off-ice wave growth is more complicated due to the cumulative effect of SIC uncertainty and the model implementation of wave-ice interactions along an MIZ fetch. Analysis of significant wave height uncertainty distributions for SIC forcing and wave-ice interaction source terms reveals that they are both sizeable; however, the study concludes the more dominant uncertainty source of modelling wave-ice interactions is the accuracy of satellite retrieved SIC estimates that are used as model forcing. |
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