Implications of surface flooding on airborne estimates of snow depth on sea ice
Snow depth observations from airborne snow radars, such as the NASA's Operation IceBridge (OIB) mission, have recently been used in altimeter-derived sea ice thickness estimates, as well as for model parameterization. A number of validation studies comparing airborne and in situ snow depth meas...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0ad35a8b72514b408789ad95b085ea74 2023-05-15T15:03:37+02:00 Implications of surface flooding on airborne estimates of snow depth on sea ice A. Rösel S. L. Farrell V. Nandan J. Richter-Menge G. Spreen D. V. Divine A. Steer J.-C. Gallet S. Gerland 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2819-2021 https://doaj.org/article/0ad35a8b72514b408789ad95b085ea74 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2819/2021/tc-15-2819-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-15-2819-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/0ad35a8b72514b408789ad95b085ea74 The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 2819-2833 (2021) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2819-2021 2022-12-31T06:55:59Z Snow depth observations from airborne snow radars, such as the NASA's Operation IceBridge (OIB) mission, have recently been used in altimeter-derived sea ice thickness estimates, as well as for model parameterization. A number of validation studies comparing airborne and in situ snow depth measurements have been conducted in the western Arctic Ocean, demonstrating the utility of the airborne data. However, there have been no validation studies in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic. Recent observations in this region suggest a significant and predominant shift towards a snow-ice regime caused by deep snow on thin sea ice. During the Norwegian young sea Ice, Climate and Ecosystems (ICE) expedition (N-ICE2015) in the area north of Svalbard, a validation study was conducted on 19 March 2015. This study collected ground truth data during an OIB overflight. Snow and ice thickness measurements were obtained across a two-dimensional (2-D) 400 m × 60 m grid. Additional snow and ice thickness measurements collected in situ from adjacent ice floes helped to place the measurements obtained at the gridded survey field site into a more regional context. Widespread negative freeboards and flooding of the snowpack were observed during the N-ICE2015 expedition due to the general situation of thick snow on relatively thin sea ice. These conditions caused brine wicking into and saturation of the basal snow layers. This causes the airborne radar signal to undergo more diffuse scattering, resulting in the location of the radar main scattering horizon being detected well above the snow–ice interface. This leads to a subsequent underestimation of snow depth; if only radar-based information is used, the average airborne snow depth was 0.16 m thinner than that measured in situ at the 2-D survey field. Regional data within 10 km of the 2-D survey field suggested however a smaller deviation between average airborne and in situ snow depth, a 0.06 m underestimate in snow depth by the airborne radar, which is close to the resolution limit of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice Svalbard The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard The Cryosphere 15 6 2819 2833 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
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Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 A. Rösel S. L. Farrell V. Nandan J. Richter-Menge G. Spreen D. V. Divine A. Steer J.-C. Gallet S. Gerland Implications of surface flooding on airborne estimates of snow depth on sea ice |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Snow depth observations from airborne snow radars, such as the NASA's Operation IceBridge (OIB) mission, have recently been used in altimeter-derived sea ice thickness estimates, as well as for model parameterization. A number of validation studies comparing airborne and in situ snow depth measurements have been conducted in the western Arctic Ocean, demonstrating the utility of the airborne data. However, there have been no validation studies in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic. Recent observations in this region suggest a significant and predominant shift towards a snow-ice regime caused by deep snow on thin sea ice. During the Norwegian young sea Ice, Climate and Ecosystems (ICE) expedition (N-ICE2015) in the area north of Svalbard, a validation study was conducted on 19 March 2015. This study collected ground truth data during an OIB overflight. Snow and ice thickness measurements were obtained across a two-dimensional (2-D) 400 m × 60 m grid. Additional snow and ice thickness measurements collected in situ from adjacent ice floes helped to place the measurements obtained at the gridded survey field site into a more regional context. Widespread negative freeboards and flooding of the snowpack were observed during the N-ICE2015 expedition due to the general situation of thick snow on relatively thin sea ice. These conditions caused brine wicking into and saturation of the basal snow layers. This causes the airborne radar signal to undergo more diffuse scattering, resulting in the location of the radar main scattering horizon being detected well above the snow–ice interface. This leads to a subsequent underestimation of snow depth; if only radar-based information is used, the average airborne snow depth was 0.16 m thinner than that measured in situ at the 2-D survey field. Regional data within 10 km of the 2-D survey field suggested however a smaller deviation between average airborne and in situ snow depth, a 0.06 m underestimate in snow depth by the airborne radar, which is close to the resolution limit of ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. Rösel S. L. Farrell V. Nandan J. Richter-Menge G. Spreen D. V. Divine A. Steer J.-C. Gallet S. Gerland |
author_facet |
A. Rösel S. L. Farrell V. Nandan J. Richter-Menge G. Spreen D. V. Divine A. Steer J.-C. Gallet S. Gerland |
author_sort |
A. Rösel |
title |
Implications of surface flooding on airborne estimates of snow depth on sea ice |
title_short |
Implications of surface flooding on airborne estimates of snow depth on sea ice |
title_full |
Implications of surface flooding on airborne estimates of snow depth on sea ice |
title_fullStr |
Implications of surface flooding on airborne estimates of snow depth on sea ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Implications of surface flooding on airborne estimates of snow depth on sea ice |
title_sort |
implications of surface flooding on airborne estimates of snow depth on sea ice |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2819-2021 https://doaj.org/article/0ad35a8b72514b408789ad95b085ea74 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice Svalbard The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Sea ice Svalbard The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 2819-2833 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2819/2021/tc-15-2819-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-15-2819-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/0ad35a8b72514b408789ad95b085ea74 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2819-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2819 |
op_container_end_page |
2833 |
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1766335475776225280 |