Snow thickness retrieval over thick Arctic sea ice using SMOS satellite data
The microwave interferometric radiometer of the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission measures at a frequency of 1.4 GHz in the L-band. In contrast to other microwave satellites, low frequency measurements in L-band have a large penetration depth in sea ice and...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:44c1f3e6b5d041359dcf97b05aca8838 2023-05-15T14:53:08+02:00 Snow thickness retrieval over thick Arctic sea ice using SMOS satellite data N. Maaß L. Kaleschke X. Tian-Kunze M. Drusch 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1971-2013 https://doaj.org/article/44c1f3e6b5d041359dcf97b05aca8838 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1971/2013/tc-7-1971-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-7-1971-2013 https://doaj.org/article/44c1f3e6b5d041359dcf97b05aca8838 The Cryosphere, Vol 7, Iss 6, Pp 1971-1989 (2013) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1971-2013 2022-12-31T04:43:55Z The microwave interferometric radiometer of the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission measures at a frequency of 1.4 GHz in the L-band. In contrast to other microwave satellites, low frequency measurements in L-band have a large penetration depth in sea ice and thus contain information on the ice thickness. Previous ice thickness retrievals have neglected a snow layer on top of the ice. Here, we implement a snow layer in our emission model and investigate how snow influences L-band brightness temperatures and whether it is possible to retrieve snow thickness over thick Arctic sea ice from SMOS data. We find that the brightness temperatures above snow-covered sea ice are higher than above bare sea ice and that horizontal polarisation is more affected by the snow layer than vertical polarisation. In accordance with our theoretical investigations, the root mean square deviation between simulated and observed horizontally polarised brightness temperatures decreases from 20.9 K to 4.7 K, when we include the snow layer in the simulations. Although dry snow is almost transparent in L-band, we find brightness temperatures to increase with increasing snow thickness under cold Arctic conditions. The brightness temperatures' dependence on snow thickness can be explained by the thermal insulation of snow and its dependence on the snow layer thickness. This temperature effect allows us to retrieve snow thickness over thick sea ice. For the best simulation scenario and snow thicknesses up to 35 cm, the average snow thickness retrieved from horizontally polarised SMOS brightness temperatures agrees within 0.1 cm with the average snow thickness measured during the IceBridge flight campaign in the Arctic in spring 2012. The corresponding root mean square deviation is 5.5 cm, and the coefficient of determination is r 2 = 0.58. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic The Cryosphere 7 6 1971 1989 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 N. Maaß L. Kaleschke X. Tian-Kunze M. Drusch Snow thickness retrieval over thick Arctic sea ice using SMOS satellite data |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The microwave interferometric radiometer of the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission measures at a frequency of 1.4 GHz in the L-band. In contrast to other microwave satellites, low frequency measurements in L-band have a large penetration depth in sea ice and thus contain information on the ice thickness. Previous ice thickness retrievals have neglected a snow layer on top of the ice. Here, we implement a snow layer in our emission model and investigate how snow influences L-band brightness temperatures and whether it is possible to retrieve snow thickness over thick Arctic sea ice from SMOS data. We find that the brightness temperatures above snow-covered sea ice are higher than above bare sea ice and that horizontal polarisation is more affected by the snow layer than vertical polarisation. In accordance with our theoretical investigations, the root mean square deviation between simulated and observed horizontally polarised brightness temperatures decreases from 20.9 K to 4.7 K, when we include the snow layer in the simulations. Although dry snow is almost transparent in L-band, we find brightness temperatures to increase with increasing snow thickness under cold Arctic conditions. The brightness temperatures' dependence on snow thickness can be explained by the thermal insulation of snow and its dependence on the snow layer thickness. This temperature effect allows us to retrieve snow thickness over thick sea ice. For the best simulation scenario and snow thicknesses up to 35 cm, the average snow thickness retrieved from horizontally polarised SMOS brightness temperatures agrees within 0.1 cm with the average snow thickness measured during the IceBridge flight campaign in the Arctic in spring 2012. The corresponding root mean square deviation is 5.5 cm, and the coefficient of determination is r 2 = 0.58. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
N. Maaß L. Kaleschke X. Tian-Kunze M. Drusch |
author_facet |
N. Maaß L. Kaleschke X. Tian-Kunze M. Drusch |
author_sort |
N. Maaß |
title |
Snow thickness retrieval over thick Arctic sea ice using SMOS satellite data |
title_short |
Snow thickness retrieval over thick Arctic sea ice using SMOS satellite data |
title_full |
Snow thickness retrieval over thick Arctic sea ice using SMOS satellite data |
title_fullStr |
Snow thickness retrieval over thick Arctic sea ice using SMOS satellite data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snow thickness retrieval over thick Arctic sea ice using SMOS satellite data |
title_sort |
snow thickness retrieval over thick arctic sea ice using smos satellite data |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1971-2013 https://doaj.org/article/44c1f3e6b5d041359dcf97b05aca8838 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 7, Iss 6, Pp 1971-1989 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/7/1971/2013/tc-7-1971-2013.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-7-1971-2013 https://doaj.org/article/44c1f3e6b5d041359dcf97b05aca8838 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1971-2013 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1971 |
op_container_end_page |
1989 |
_version_ |
1766324551541587968 |