The Potential of Space-Based Sea Surface Salinity on Monitoring the Hudson Bay Freshwater Cycle
Hudson Bay (HB) is the largest semi-inland sea in the Northern Hemisphere, connecting with the Arctic Ocean through the Foxe Basin and the northern Atlantic Ocean through the Hudson Strait. HB is covered by ice and snow in winter, which completely melts in summer. For about six months each year, sat...
Published in: | Remote Sensing |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12050873 |
id |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/12/5/873/ |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/12/5/873/ 2023-08-20T04:04:55+02:00 The Potential of Space-Based Sea Surface Salinity on Monitoring the Hudson Bay Freshwater Cycle Wenqing Tang Simon H. Yueh Daqing Yang Ellie Mcleod Alexander Fore Akiko Hayashi Estrella Olmedo Justino Martínez Carolina Gabarró agris 2020-03-09 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12050873 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Ocean Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs12050873 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Remote Sensing; Volume 12; Issue 5; Pages: 873 sea surface salinity Hudson Bay freshwater contents sea ice river discharge Text 2020 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12050873 2023-07-31T23:12:48Z Hudson Bay (HB) is the largest semi-inland sea in the Northern Hemisphere, connecting with the Arctic Ocean through the Foxe Basin and the northern Atlantic Ocean through the Hudson Strait. HB is covered by ice and snow in winter, which completely melts in summer. For about six months each year, satellite remote sensing of sea surface salinity (SSS) is possible over open water. SSS links freshwater contributions from river discharge, sea ice melt/freeze, and surface precipitation/evaporation. Given the strategic importance of HB, SSS has great potential in monitoring the HB freshwater cycle and studying its relationship with climate change. However, SSS retrieved in polar regions (poleward of 50°) from currently operational space-based L-band microwave instruments has large uncertainty (~ 1 psu) mainly due to sensitivity degradation in cold water (<5°C) and sea ice contamination. This study analyzes SSS from NASA Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) and European Space Agency (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity(SMOS) missions in the context of HB freshwater contents. We found that the main source of the year-to-year SSS variability is sea ice melting, in particular, the onset time and places of ice melt in the first couple of months of open water season. The freshwater contribution from surface forcing P-E is smaller in magnitude comparing with sea ice contribution but lasts on longer time scale through the whole open water season. River discharge is comparable with P-E in magnitude but peaks before ice melt. The spatial and temporal variations of freshwater contents largely exceed the remote sensed SSS uncertainty. This fact justifies the use of remote sensed SSS for monitoring the HB freshwater cycle. Text Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Foxe Basin Hudson Bay Hudson Strait Sea ice MDPI Open Access Publishing Arctic Arctic Ocean Hudson Bay Hudson Hudson Strait ENVELOPE(-70.000,-70.000,62.000,62.000) Foxe Basin ENVELOPE(-77.918,-77.918,65.931,65.931) Remote Sensing 12 5 873 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
sea surface salinity Hudson Bay freshwater contents sea ice river discharge |
spellingShingle |
sea surface salinity Hudson Bay freshwater contents sea ice river discharge Wenqing Tang Simon H. Yueh Daqing Yang Ellie Mcleod Alexander Fore Akiko Hayashi Estrella Olmedo Justino Martínez Carolina Gabarró The Potential of Space-Based Sea Surface Salinity on Monitoring the Hudson Bay Freshwater Cycle |
topic_facet |
sea surface salinity Hudson Bay freshwater contents sea ice river discharge |
description |
Hudson Bay (HB) is the largest semi-inland sea in the Northern Hemisphere, connecting with the Arctic Ocean through the Foxe Basin and the northern Atlantic Ocean through the Hudson Strait. HB is covered by ice and snow in winter, which completely melts in summer. For about six months each year, satellite remote sensing of sea surface salinity (SSS) is possible over open water. SSS links freshwater contributions from river discharge, sea ice melt/freeze, and surface precipitation/evaporation. Given the strategic importance of HB, SSS has great potential in monitoring the HB freshwater cycle and studying its relationship with climate change. However, SSS retrieved in polar regions (poleward of 50°) from currently operational space-based L-band microwave instruments has large uncertainty (~ 1 psu) mainly due to sensitivity degradation in cold water (<5°C) and sea ice contamination. This study analyzes SSS from NASA Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) and European Space Agency (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity(SMOS) missions in the context of HB freshwater contents. We found that the main source of the year-to-year SSS variability is sea ice melting, in particular, the onset time and places of ice melt in the first couple of months of open water season. The freshwater contribution from surface forcing P-E is smaller in magnitude comparing with sea ice contribution but lasts on longer time scale through the whole open water season. River discharge is comparable with P-E in magnitude but peaks before ice melt. The spatial and temporal variations of freshwater contents largely exceed the remote sensed SSS uncertainty. This fact justifies the use of remote sensed SSS for monitoring the HB freshwater cycle. |
format |
Text |
author |
Wenqing Tang Simon H. Yueh Daqing Yang Ellie Mcleod Alexander Fore Akiko Hayashi Estrella Olmedo Justino Martínez Carolina Gabarró |
author_facet |
Wenqing Tang Simon H. Yueh Daqing Yang Ellie Mcleod Alexander Fore Akiko Hayashi Estrella Olmedo Justino Martínez Carolina Gabarró |
author_sort |
Wenqing Tang |
title |
The Potential of Space-Based Sea Surface Salinity on Monitoring the Hudson Bay Freshwater Cycle |
title_short |
The Potential of Space-Based Sea Surface Salinity on Monitoring the Hudson Bay Freshwater Cycle |
title_full |
The Potential of Space-Based Sea Surface Salinity on Monitoring the Hudson Bay Freshwater Cycle |
title_fullStr |
The Potential of Space-Based Sea Surface Salinity on Monitoring the Hudson Bay Freshwater Cycle |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Potential of Space-Based Sea Surface Salinity on Monitoring the Hudson Bay Freshwater Cycle |
title_sort |
potential of space-based sea surface salinity on monitoring the hudson bay freshwater cycle |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12050873 |
op_coverage |
agris |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-70.000,-70.000,62.000,62.000) ENVELOPE(-77.918,-77.918,65.931,65.931) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Hudson Bay Hudson Hudson Strait Foxe Basin |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Hudson Bay Hudson Hudson Strait Foxe Basin |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Foxe Basin Hudson Bay Hudson Strait Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Foxe Basin Hudson Bay Hudson Strait Sea ice |
op_source |
Remote Sensing; Volume 12; Issue 5; Pages: 873 |
op_relation |
Ocean Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs12050873 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12050873 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
873 |
_version_ |
1774715328469663744 |