Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery
The sea-ice floe size distribution (FSD) characterizes the sea-ice response to atmospheric and oceanic forcing and is important for understanding and modeling the evolving ice pack in a warming Arctic. FSDs are evaluated from 78 floe-segmented high-resolution (1 m) optical satellite images capturing...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/tc-16-1563-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/e7fcbe8f7d9c47e8b549ae230272842a |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:e7fcbe8f7d9c47e8b549ae230272842a 2023-05-15T15:09:52+02:00 Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery A. A. Denton M.-L. Timmermans 2022-05-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/tc-16-1563-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/e7fcbe8f7d9c47e8b549ae230272842a en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/tc-16-1563-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/e7fcbe8f7d9c47e8b549ae230272842a undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 1563-1578 (2022) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2022 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 2023-01-22T19:11:29Z The sea-ice floe size distribution (FSD) characterizes the sea-ice response to atmospheric and oceanic forcing and is important for understanding and modeling the evolving ice pack in a warming Arctic. FSDs are evaluated from 78 floe-segmented high-resolution (1 m) optical satellite images capturing a range of settings and sea-ice states during spring through fall from 1999 to 2014 in the Canada Basin. For any given image, the structure of the FSD is found to be sensitive to a classification threshold value (i.e., to specify an image pixel as being either water or ice) used in image segmentation, and an approach to account for this sensitivity is presented. The FSDs are found to exhibit a single power-law regime between floe areas 50 m2 and 5 km2, characterized by exponents (slopes in log-log space) in the range −2.03 to −1.65. A distinct linear relationship between slopes and sea-ice concentrations is found, with steeper slopes (i.e., a larger proportion of smaller to larger floes) corresponding to lower sea-ice concentrations. Further, a seasonal variation in slopes is found for fixed sites in the Canada Basin that undergo a seasonal cycle in sea-ice concentration, while sites with extensive sea-ice cover year-round do not exhibit any seasonal change in FSD properties. Our results suggest that sea-ice concentration should be considered in any characterization of a time-varying FSD (for use in sea-ice models, for example). Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic canada basin ice pack Sea ice The Cryosphere Unknown Arctic Canada The Cryosphere 16 5 1563 1578 |
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English |
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geo envir A. A. Denton M.-L. Timmermans Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
The sea-ice floe size distribution (FSD) characterizes the sea-ice response to atmospheric and oceanic forcing and is important for understanding and modeling the evolving ice pack in a warming Arctic. FSDs are evaluated from 78 floe-segmented high-resolution (1 m) optical satellite images capturing a range of settings and sea-ice states during spring through fall from 1999 to 2014 in the Canada Basin. For any given image, the structure of the FSD is found to be sensitive to a classification threshold value (i.e., to specify an image pixel as being either water or ice) used in image segmentation, and an approach to account for this sensitivity is presented. The FSDs are found to exhibit a single power-law regime between floe areas 50 m2 and 5 km2, characterized by exponents (slopes in log-log space) in the range −2.03 to −1.65. A distinct linear relationship between slopes and sea-ice concentrations is found, with steeper slopes (i.e., a larger proportion of smaller to larger floes) corresponding to lower sea-ice concentrations. Further, a seasonal variation in slopes is found for fixed sites in the Canada Basin that undergo a seasonal cycle in sea-ice concentration, while sites with extensive sea-ice cover year-round do not exhibit any seasonal change in FSD properties. Our results suggest that sea-ice concentration should be considered in any characterization of a time-varying FSD (for use in sea-ice models, for example). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. A. Denton M.-L. Timmermans |
author_facet |
A. A. Denton M.-L. Timmermans |
author_sort |
A. A. Denton |
title |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_short |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_full |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_fullStr |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_full_unstemmed |
Characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the Canada Basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
title_sort |
characterizing the sea-ice floe size distribution in the canada basin from high-resolution optical satellite imagery |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/tc-16-1563-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/e7fcbe8f7d9c47e8b549ae230272842a |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic canada basin ice pack Sea ice The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Arctic canada basin ice pack Sea ice The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 1563-1578 (2022) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/1563/2022/tc-16-1563-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/article/e7fcbe8f7d9c47e8b549ae230272842a |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1563-2022 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1563 |
op_container_end_page |
1578 |
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