Spatial and temporal patterns in Arctic river ice breakup revealed by automated ice detection from MODIS imagery ...

• Main Authors: Cooley, S.W., Pavelsky, T.M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc. 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; Yenisey
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/18pz-n706; https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/articles/3197xw908

The annual spring breakup of river ice has important consequences for northern ecosystems and significant economic implications for Arctic industry and transportation. River ice breakup research is restricted by the sparse distribution of hydrological stations in the Arctic, where limited available data suggests a trend towards earlier ice breakup. The specific climatic mechanisms driving this trend, however, are complex and can vary both regionally and within river systems. Consequently, understanding the response of river ice processes to a warming Arctic requires simultaneous examination of spatial and temporal patterns in breakup timing. In this paper, we describe an automated algorithm for river ice breakup detection using MODIS satellite imagery that enables identification of spatial and temporal breakup patterns at large scales. We examine breakup timing on the Mackenzie, Lena, Ob' and Yenisey rivers for the period 2000-2014. By dividing the rivers into 10 km segments and classifying each river pixel ...