A comparison between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness in the Southern Ocean
The crucial role that Antarctic sea ice plays in the global climate system is strongly linked to its thickness. While field observations are too sparse in the Southern Ocean to determine long-term trends of the Antarctic sea ice thickness (SIT) on a hemispheric scale, satellite radar altimetry data...
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Copernicus Publications
2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4473-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4473/2022/tc-16-4473-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/a07b6ca6252f4f1f97333b816aa7f373 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:a07b6ca6252f4f1f97333b816aa7f373 2023-05-15T14:04:54+02:00 A comparison between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness in the Southern Ocean J. Wang C. Min R. Ricker Q. Shi B. Han S. Hendricks R. Wu Q. Yang 2022-10-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4473-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4473/2022/tc-16-4473-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/a07b6ca6252f4f1f97333b816aa7f373 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-16-4473-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4473/2022/tc-16-4473-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/a07b6ca6252f4f1f97333b816aa7f373 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 4473-4490 (2022) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2022 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4473-2022 2023-01-22T19:12:12Z The crucial role that Antarctic sea ice plays in the global climate system is strongly linked to its thickness. While field observations are too sparse in the Southern Ocean to determine long-term trends of the Antarctic sea ice thickness (SIT) on a hemispheric scale, satellite radar altimetry data can be applied with a promising prospect. The European Space Agency's Sea Ice Climate Change Initiative project (ESA SICCI) generates sea ice thickness derived from Envisat, covering the entire Southern Ocean year-round from 2002 to 2012. In this study, the SICCI Envisat Antarctic SIT is first compared with an Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) SIT product retrieved with a modified ice density algorithm. Both data sets are compared to SIT estimates from upward-looking sonar (ULS) in the Weddell Sea, showing mean differences (MDs) and standard deviations (SDs, in parentheses) of 1.29 (0.65) m for Envisat − ULS (− denotes “minus” and the same below), while we find 1.11 (0.81) m for ICESat − ULS. The inter-comparisons are conducted for all seasons except for winter, based on the ICESat operating periods. According to the results, the differences between Envisat and ICESat SIT reveal significant temporal and spatial variations. More specifically, the smallest seasonal SIT MD (SD) of 0.00 m (0.39 m) for Envisat − ICESat is found in spring (October–November), while a larger MD (SD) of 0.52 (0.68 m) and 0.57 m (0.45 m) exists in summer (February–March) and autumn (May–June). It is also shown that from autumn to spring, mean Envisat SIT decreases while mean ICESat SIT increases. Our findings suggest that both overestimation of Envisat sea ice freeboard potentially caused by radar backscatter originating from inside the snow layer and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E, where EOS stands for Earth Observing System) snow depth biases and sea ice density uncertainties can possibly account for the differences between Envisat and ICESat SIT. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean The Cryosphere Weddell Sea Unknown Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea The Cryosphere 16 10 4473 4490 |
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Open Polar |
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language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir J. Wang C. Min R. Ricker Q. Shi B. Han S. Hendricks R. Wu Q. Yang A comparison between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness in the Southern Ocean |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
The crucial role that Antarctic sea ice plays in the global climate system is strongly linked to its thickness. While field observations are too sparse in the Southern Ocean to determine long-term trends of the Antarctic sea ice thickness (SIT) on a hemispheric scale, satellite radar altimetry data can be applied with a promising prospect. The European Space Agency's Sea Ice Climate Change Initiative project (ESA SICCI) generates sea ice thickness derived from Envisat, covering the entire Southern Ocean year-round from 2002 to 2012. In this study, the SICCI Envisat Antarctic SIT is first compared with an Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) SIT product retrieved with a modified ice density algorithm. Both data sets are compared to SIT estimates from upward-looking sonar (ULS) in the Weddell Sea, showing mean differences (MDs) and standard deviations (SDs, in parentheses) of 1.29 (0.65) m for Envisat − ULS (− denotes “minus” and the same below), while we find 1.11 (0.81) m for ICESat − ULS. The inter-comparisons are conducted for all seasons except for winter, based on the ICESat operating periods. According to the results, the differences between Envisat and ICESat SIT reveal significant temporal and spatial variations. More specifically, the smallest seasonal SIT MD (SD) of 0.00 m (0.39 m) for Envisat − ICESat is found in spring (October–November), while a larger MD (SD) of 0.52 (0.68 m) and 0.57 m (0.45 m) exists in summer (February–March) and autumn (May–June). It is also shown that from autumn to spring, mean Envisat SIT decreases while mean ICESat SIT increases. Our findings suggest that both overestimation of Envisat sea ice freeboard potentially caused by radar backscatter originating from inside the snow layer and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E, where EOS stands for Earth Observing System) snow depth biases and sea ice density uncertainties can possibly account for the differences between Envisat and ICESat SIT. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
J. Wang C. Min R. Ricker Q. Shi B. Han S. Hendricks R. Wu Q. Yang |
author_facet |
J. Wang C. Min R. Ricker Q. Shi B. Han S. Hendricks R. Wu Q. Yang |
author_sort |
J. Wang |
title |
A comparison between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness in the Southern Ocean |
title_short |
A comparison between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness in the Southern Ocean |
title_full |
A comparison between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness in the Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
A comparison between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness in the Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
A comparison between Envisat and ICESat sea ice thickness in the Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
comparison between envisat and icesat sea ice thickness in the southern ocean |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4473-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4473/2022/tc-16-4473-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/a07b6ca6252f4f1f97333b816aa7f373 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean The Cryosphere Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean The Cryosphere Weddell Sea |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 4473-4490 (2022) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-16-4473-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/4473/2022/tc-16-4473-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/a07b6ca6252f4f1f97333b816aa7f373 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4473-2022 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
4473 |
op_container_end_page |
4490 |
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1766276352546177024 |