New methodology to estimate Arctic sea ice concentration from SMOS combining brightness temperature differences in a maximum-likelihood estimator
Monitoring sea ice concentration is required for operational and climate studies in the Arctic Sea. Technologies used so far for estimating sea ice concentration have some limitations, for instance the impact of the atmosphere, the physical temperature of ice, and the presence of snow and melting. I...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e4c6f2fc798043ab8364e248cc4e6e09 2023-05-15T14:52:58+02:00 New methodology to estimate Arctic sea ice concentration from SMOS combining brightness temperature differences in a maximum-likelihood estimator C. Gabarro A. Turiel P. Elosegui J. A. Pla-Resina M. Portabella 2017-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1987-2017 https://doaj.org/article/e4c6f2fc798043ab8364e248cc4e6e09 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/1987/2017/tc-11-1987-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-11-1987-2017 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/e4c6f2fc798043ab8364e248cc4e6e09 The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Pp 1987-2002 (2017) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1987-2017 2022-12-30T21:22:41Z Monitoring sea ice concentration is required for operational and climate studies in the Arctic Sea. Technologies used so far for estimating sea ice concentration have some limitations, for instance the impact of the atmosphere, the physical temperature of ice, and the presence of snow and melting. In the last years, L-band radiometry has been successfully used to study some properties of sea ice, remarkably sea ice thickness. However, the potential of satellite L-band observations for obtaining sea ice concentration had not yet been explored. In this paper, we present preliminary evidence showing that data from the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission can be used to estimate sea ice concentration. Our method, based on a maximum-likelihood estimator (MLE), exploits the marked difference in the radiative properties of sea ice and seawater. In addition, the brightness temperatures of 100 % sea ice and 100 % seawater, as well as their combined values (polarization and angular difference), have been shown to be very stable during winter and spring, so they are robust to variations in physical temperature and other geophysical parameters. Therefore, we can use just two sets of tie points, one for summer and another for winter, for calculating sea ice concentration, leading to a more robust estimate. After analysing the full year 2014 in the entire Arctic, we have found that the sea ice concentration obtained with our method is well determined as compared to the Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) dataset. However, when thin sea ice is present (ice thickness ≲ 0.6 m), the method underestimates the actual sea ice concentration. Our results open the way for a systematic exploitation of SMOS data for monitoring sea ice concentration, at least for specific seasons. Additionally, SMOS data can be synergistically combined with data from other sensors to monitor pan-Arctic sea ice conditions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic The Cryosphere 11 4 1987 2002 |
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 C. Gabarro A. Turiel P. Elosegui J. A. Pla-Resina M. Portabella New methodology to estimate Arctic sea ice concentration from SMOS combining brightness temperature differences in a maximum-likelihood estimator |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Monitoring sea ice concentration is required for operational and climate studies in the Arctic Sea. Technologies used so far for estimating sea ice concentration have some limitations, for instance the impact of the atmosphere, the physical temperature of ice, and the presence of snow and melting. In the last years, L-band radiometry has been successfully used to study some properties of sea ice, remarkably sea ice thickness. However, the potential of satellite L-band observations for obtaining sea ice concentration had not yet been explored. In this paper, we present preliminary evidence showing that data from the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission can be used to estimate sea ice concentration. Our method, based on a maximum-likelihood estimator (MLE), exploits the marked difference in the radiative properties of sea ice and seawater. In addition, the brightness temperatures of 100 % sea ice and 100 % seawater, as well as their combined values (polarization and angular difference), have been shown to be very stable during winter and spring, so they are robust to variations in physical temperature and other geophysical parameters. Therefore, we can use just two sets of tie points, one for summer and another for winter, for calculating sea ice concentration, leading to a more robust estimate. After analysing the full year 2014 in the entire Arctic, we have found that the sea ice concentration obtained with our method is well determined as compared to the Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) dataset. However, when thin sea ice is present (ice thickness ≲ 0.6 m), the method underestimates the actual sea ice concentration. Our results open the way for a systematic exploitation of SMOS data for monitoring sea ice concentration, at least for specific seasons. Additionally, SMOS data can be synergistically combined with data from other sensors to monitor pan-Arctic sea ice conditions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. Gabarro A. Turiel P. Elosegui J. A. Pla-Resina M. Portabella |
author_facet |
C. Gabarro A. Turiel P. Elosegui J. A. Pla-Resina M. Portabella |
author_sort |
C. Gabarro |
title |
New methodology to estimate Arctic sea ice concentration from SMOS combining brightness temperature differences in a maximum-likelihood estimator |
title_short |
New methodology to estimate Arctic sea ice concentration from SMOS combining brightness temperature differences in a maximum-likelihood estimator |
title_full |
New methodology to estimate Arctic sea ice concentration from SMOS combining brightness temperature differences in a maximum-likelihood estimator |
title_fullStr |
New methodology to estimate Arctic sea ice concentration from SMOS combining brightness temperature differences in a maximum-likelihood estimator |
title_full_unstemmed |
New methodology to estimate Arctic sea ice concentration from SMOS combining brightness temperature differences in a maximum-likelihood estimator |
title_sort |
new methodology to estimate arctic sea ice concentration from smos combining brightness temperature differences in a maximum-likelihood estimator |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1987-2017 https://doaj.org/article/e4c6f2fc798043ab8364e248cc4e6e09 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Pp 1987-2002 (2017) |
op_relation |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/1987/2017/tc-11-1987-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-11-1987-2017 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/e4c6f2fc798043ab8364e248cc4e6e09 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1987-2017 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1987 |
op_container_end_page |
2002 |
_version_ |
1766324378299006976 |