Comparison of passive microwave remote-sensing snow-depth products on Arctic sea ice

Changes in snow cover on the surface of Arctic sea ice affect the energy balance between the atmosphere and the ocean and play a vital role in the global climate system. Accurate snow depth is a precondition for representing thermodynamic processes in sea-ice systems and is helpful for estimating se...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Research
Main Authors: Chenlei Zhang, Qing Ji, Xiaoping Pang, Jie Su, Chang Liu
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3432
https://doaj.org/article/c6fc2beda90344fd9e4ee4ef4a0add7c
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c6fc2beda90344fd9e4ee4ef4a0add7c 2023-05-15T14:43:22+02:00 Comparison of passive microwave remote-sensing snow-depth products on Arctic sea ice Chenlei Zhang Qing Ji Xiaoping Pang Jie Su Chang Liu 2019-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3432 https://doaj.org/article/c6fc2beda90344fd9e4ee4ef4a0add7c EN eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3432/9989 https://doaj.org/toc/1751-8369 1751-8369 doi:10.33265/polar.v38.3432 https://doaj.org/article/c6fc2beda90344fd9e4ee4ef4a0add7c Polar Research, Vol 38, Iss 0, Pp 1-14 (2019) cryosphere snow cover ice mass-balance buoys ice bridge accuracy analysis sea-ice thickness Environmental sciences GE1-350 Oceanography GC1-1581 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3432 2022-12-31T01:27:37Z Changes in snow cover on the surface of Arctic sea ice affect the energy balance between the atmosphere and the ocean and play a vital role in the global climate system. Accurate snow depth is a precondition for representing thermodynamic processes in sea-ice systems and is helpful for estimating sea-ice thickness. To better apply Arctic snow-depth products released by different organizations, we compared four kinds of snow-depth products based on three kinds of passive microwave (PM) sensors and evaluated them against the snow depth measured by ice mass-balance buoys (IMB snow depth) and Operation Ice Bridge airborne snow radar (OIB snow depth). The results show that the snow depths from the product released by the University of Bremen (UB) are larger than those by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with an average difference of 10 cm. Comparing the PM remote-sensing snow depths released by UB, NSIDC and NASA against IMB and OIB snow depths, it is found that NSIDC AMSR-E snow-depth product has the highest accuracy. Although these PM remote-sensing snow-depth products released by different organizations differ in accuracy, they all reflect the spatio-temporal variation characteristics of snow depth on Arctic sea ice. These comparisons and analysis of snow-depth products from different sensors released by different organizations provide a basis for further investigation of Arctic sea-ice thickness estimation and benefit the studies of Arctic sea ice and climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change National Snow and Ice Data Center Polar Research Sea ice Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Polar Research 38 0
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic cryosphere
snow cover
ice mass-balance buoys
ice bridge
accuracy analysis
sea-ice thickness
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Oceanography
GC1-1581
spellingShingle cryosphere
snow cover
ice mass-balance buoys
ice bridge
accuracy analysis
sea-ice thickness
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Oceanography
GC1-1581
Chenlei Zhang
Qing Ji
Xiaoping Pang
Jie Su
Chang Liu
Comparison of passive microwave remote-sensing snow-depth products on Arctic sea ice
topic_facet cryosphere
snow cover
ice mass-balance buoys
ice bridge
accuracy analysis
sea-ice thickness
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Oceanography
GC1-1581
description Changes in snow cover on the surface of Arctic sea ice affect the energy balance between the atmosphere and the ocean and play a vital role in the global climate system. Accurate snow depth is a precondition for representing thermodynamic processes in sea-ice systems and is helpful for estimating sea-ice thickness. To better apply Arctic snow-depth products released by different organizations, we compared four kinds of snow-depth products based on three kinds of passive microwave (PM) sensors and evaluated them against the snow depth measured by ice mass-balance buoys (IMB snow depth) and Operation Ice Bridge airborne snow radar (OIB snow depth). The results show that the snow depths from the product released by the University of Bremen (UB) are larger than those by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with an average difference of 10 cm. Comparing the PM remote-sensing snow depths released by UB, NSIDC and NASA against IMB and OIB snow depths, it is found that NSIDC AMSR-E snow-depth product has the highest accuracy. Although these PM remote-sensing snow-depth products released by different organizations differ in accuracy, they all reflect the spatio-temporal variation characteristics of snow depth on Arctic sea ice. These comparisons and analysis of snow-depth products from different sensors released by different organizations provide a basis for further investigation of Arctic sea-ice thickness estimation and benefit the studies of Arctic sea ice and climate change.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Chenlei Zhang
Qing Ji
Xiaoping Pang
Jie Su
Chang Liu
author_facet Chenlei Zhang
Qing Ji
Xiaoping Pang
Jie Su
Chang Liu
author_sort Chenlei Zhang
title Comparison of passive microwave remote-sensing snow-depth products on Arctic sea ice
title_short Comparison of passive microwave remote-sensing snow-depth products on Arctic sea ice
title_full Comparison of passive microwave remote-sensing snow-depth products on Arctic sea ice
title_fullStr Comparison of passive microwave remote-sensing snow-depth products on Arctic sea ice
title_full_unstemmed Comparison of passive microwave remote-sensing snow-depth products on Arctic sea ice
title_sort comparison of passive microwave remote-sensing snow-depth products on arctic sea ice
publisher Norwegian Polar Institute
publishDate 2019
url https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3432
https://doaj.org/article/c6fc2beda90344fd9e4ee4ef4a0add7c
geographic Arctic
geographic_facet Arctic
genre Arctic
Climate change
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Polar Research
Sea ice
genre_facet Arctic
Climate change
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Polar Research
Sea ice
op_source Polar Research, Vol 38, Iss 0, Pp 1-14 (2019)
op_relation https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3432/9989
https://doaj.org/toc/1751-8369
1751-8369
doi:10.33265/polar.v38.3432
https://doaj.org/article/c6fc2beda90344fd9e4ee4ef4a0add7c
op_doi https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3432
container_title Polar Research
container_volume 38
container_issue 0
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