Quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo

The darkening effects of biological impurities on ice and snow have been recognised as a control on the surface energy balance of terrestrial snow, sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets. With a heightened interest in understanding the impacts of a changing climate on snow and ice processes, quantifying t...

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Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: J. M. Cook, A. J. Hodson, A. S. Gardner, M. Flanner, A. J. Tedstone, C. Williamson, T. D. L. Irvine-Fynn, J. Nilsson, R. Bryant, M. Tranter
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2017
Subjects:
geo
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2611-2017
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/2611/2017/tc-11-2611-2017.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/081895f1a2e84badb19ad63799ff0a51
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spelling fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:081895f1a2e84badb19ad63799ff0a51 2023-05-15T18:18:53+02:00 Quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo J. M. Cook A. J. Hodson A. S. Gardner M. Flanner A. J. Tedstone C. Williamson T. D. L. Irvine-Fynn J. Nilsson R. Bryant M. Tranter 2017-11-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2611-2017 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/2611/2017/tc-11-2611-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/article/081895f1a2e84badb19ad63799ff0a51 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-11-2611-2017 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/2611/2017/tc-11-2611-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/article/081895f1a2e84badb19ad63799ff0a51 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Pp 2611-2632 (2017) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2017 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2611-2017 2023-01-22T17:58:07Z The darkening effects of biological impurities on ice and snow have been recognised as a control on the surface energy balance of terrestrial snow, sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets. With a heightened interest in understanding the impacts of a changing climate on snow and ice processes, quantifying the impact of biological impurities on ice and snow albedo (bioalbedo) and its evolution through time is a rapidly growing field of research. However, rigorous quantification of bioalbedo has remained elusive because of difficulties in isolating the biological contribution to ice albedo from that of inorganic impurities and the variable optical properties of the ice itself. For this reason, isolation of the biological signature in reflectance data obtained from aerial/orbital platforms has not been achieved, even when ground-based biological measurements have been available. This paper provides the cell-specific optical properties that are required to model the spectral signatures and broadband darkening of ice. Applying radiative transfer theory, these properties provide the physical basis needed to link biological and glaciological ground measurements with remotely sensed reflectance data. Using these new capabilities we confirm that biological impurities can influence ice albedo, then we identify 10 challenges to the measurement of bioalbedo in the field with the aim of improving future experimental designs to better quantify bioalbedo feedbacks. These challenges are (1) ambiguity in terminology, (2) characterising snow or ice optical properties, (3) characterising solar irradiance, (4) determining optical properties of cells, (5) measuring biomass, (6) characterising vertical distribution of cells, (7) characterising abiotic impurities, (8) surface anisotropy, (9) measuring indirect albedo feedbacks, and (10) measurement and instrument configurations. This paper aims to provide a broad audience of glaciologists and biologists with an overview of radiative transfer and albedo that could support future experimental ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice The Cryosphere Unknown The Cryosphere 11 6 2611 2632
institution Open Polar
collection Unknown
op_collection_id fttriple
language English
topic geo
envir
spellingShingle geo
envir
J. M. Cook
A. J. Hodson
A. S. Gardner
M. Flanner
A. J. Tedstone
C. Williamson
T. D. L. Irvine-Fynn
J. Nilsson
R. Bryant
M. Tranter
Quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo
topic_facet geo
envir
description The darkening effects of biological impurities on ice and snow have been recognised as a control on the surface energy balance of terrestrial snow, sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets. With a heightened interest in understanding the impacts of a changing climate on snow and ice processes, quantifying the impact of biological impurities on ice and snow albedo (bioalbedo) and its evolution through time is a rapidly growing field of research. However, rigorous quantification of bioalbedo has remained elusive because of difficulties in isolating the biological contribution to ice albedo from that of inorganic impurities and the variable optical properties of the ice itself. For this reason, isolation of the biological signature in reflectance data obtained from aerial/orbital platforms has not been achieved, even when ground-based biological measurements have been available. This paper provides the cell-specific optical properties that are required to model the spectral signatures and broadband darkening of ice. Applying radiative transfer theory, these properties provide the physical basis needed to link biological and glaciological ground measurements with remotely sensed reflectance data. Using these new capabilities we confirm that biological impurities can influence ice albedo, then we identify 10 challenges to the measurement of bioalbedo in the field with the aim of improving future experimental designs to better quantify bioalbedo feedbacks. These challenges are (1) ambiguity in terminology, (2) characterising snow or ice optical properties, (3) characterising solar irradiance, (4) determining optical properties of cells, (5) measuring biomass, (6) characterising vertical distribution of cells, (7) characterising abiotic impurities, (8) surface anisotropy, (9) measuring indirect albedo feedbacks, and (10) measurement and instrument configurations. This paper aims to provide a broad audience of glaciologists and biologists with an overview of radiative transfer and albedo that could support future experimental ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author J. M. Cook
A. J. Hodson
A. S. Gardner
M. Flanner
A. J. Tedstone
C. Williamson
T. D. L. Irvine-Fynn
J. Nilsson
R. Bryant
M. Tranter
author_facet J. M. Cook
A. J. Hodson
A. S. Gardner
M. Flanner
A. J. Tedstone
C. Williamson
T. D. L. Irvine-Fynn
J. Nilsson
R. Bryant
M. Tranter
author_sort J. M. Cook
title Quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo
title_short Quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo
title_full Quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo
title_fullStr Quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo
title_sort quantifying bioalbedo: a new physically based model and discussion of empirical methods for characterising biological influence on ice and snow albedo
publisher Copernicus Publications
publishDate 2017
url https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2611-2017
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/2611/2017/tc-11-2611-2017.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/081895f1a2e84badb19ad63799ff0a51
genre Sea ice
The Cryosphere
genre_facet Sea ice
The Cryosphere
op_source The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Pp 2611-2632 (2017)
op_relation doi:10.5194/tc-11-2611-2017
1994-0416
1994-0424
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/2611/2017/tc-11-2611-2017.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/081895f1a2e84badb19ad63799ff0a51
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op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2611-2017
container_title The Cryosphere
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container_issue 6
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