Spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of Weddell Polynya opening
Knowing when sea ice will open is crucial, notably for scientific deployments. This was particularly obvious when the Weddell Polynya, a large opening in the winter Southern Ocean sea ice, unexpectedly re-appeared in 2016. As no precursor had been detected, observations were limited to chance autono...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3401-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3401/2021/tc-15-3401-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f94cf9b6bb3a456598f42300490221f1 |
id |
fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:f94cf9b6bb3a456598f42300490221f1 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:f94cf9b6bb3a456598f42300490221f1 2023-05-15T18:17:38+02:00 Spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of Weddell Polynya opening C. Heuzé L. Zhou M. Mohrmann A. Lemos 2021-07-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3401-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3401/2021/tc-15-3401-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f94cf9b6bb3a456598f42300490221f1 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-15-3401-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3401/2021/tc-15-3401-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f94cf9b6bb3a456598f42300490221f1 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 3401-3421 (2021) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2021 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3401-2021 2023-01-22T17:49:42Z Knowing when sea ice will open is crucial, notably for scientific deployments. This was particularly obvious when the Weddell Polynya, a large opening in the winter Southern Ocean sea ice, unexpectedly re-appeared in 2016. As no precursor had been detected, observations were limited to chance autonomous sensors, and the exact cause of the opening could not be determined accurately. We investigate here whether the signature of the vertical ocean motions or that of the leads, which ultimately re-open the polynya, are detectable in spaceborne infrared temperature before the polynya opens. From the full historical sea ice concentration record, we find 30 polynyas starting from 1980. Then, using the full time series of the spaceborne infrared Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer, we determine that these events can be detected in the 2 weeks before the polynya opens as a reduction in the variance of the data. For the three commonly used infrared brightness temperature bands, the 15 d sum and 15 d standard deviation of their area median and maximum are systematically lower than the climatology when a polynya will open. Moreover, by comparing the infrared brightness temperature to atmospheric reanalysis, hydrographic mooring data, and autonomous profilers, we find that temporal oscillations in one band and the decrease in the difference between bands may be used as proxies for upwelling of warm water and presence of leads, respectively, albeit with caution. Therefore, although infrared data are strongly limited by their horizontal resolution and sensitivity to clouds, they could be used for studying ocean or atmosphere preconditioning of polynyas in the historical record. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice Southern Ocean The Cryosphere Unknown Southern Ocean Weddell The Cryosphere 15 7 3401 3421 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir C. Heuzé L. Zhou M. Mohrmann A. Lemos Spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of Weddell Polynya opening |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Knowing when sea ice will open is crucial, notably for scientific deployments. This was particularly obvious when the Weddell Polynya, a large opening in the winter Southern Ocean sea ice, unexpectedly re-appeared in 2016. As no precursor had been detected, observations were limited to chance autonomous sensors, and the exact cause of the opening could not be determined accurately. We investigate here whether the signature of the vertical ocean motions or that of the leads, which ultimately re-open the polynya, are detectable in spaceborne infrared temperature before the polynya opens. From the full historical sea ice concentration record, we find 30 polynyas starting from 1980. Then, using the full time series of the spaceborne infrared Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer, we determine that these events can be detected in the 2 weeks before the polynya opens as a reduction in the variance of the data. For the three commonly used infrared brightness temperature bands, the 15 d sum and 15 d standard deviation of their area median and maximum are systematically lower than the climatology when a polynya will open. Moreover, by comparing the infrared brightness temperature to atmospheric reanalysis, hydrographic mooring data, and autonomous profilers, we find that temporal oscillations in one band and the decrease in the difference between bands may be used as proxies for upwelling of warm water and presence of leads, respectively, albeit with caution. Therefore, although infrared data are strongly limited by their horizontal resolution and sensitivity to clouds, they could be used for studying ocean or atmosphere preconditioning of polynyas in the historical record. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. Heuzé L. Zhou M. Mohrmann A. Lemos |
author_facet |
C. Heuzé L. Zhou M. Mohrmann A. Lemos |
author_sort |
C. Heuzé |
title |
Spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of Weddell Polynya opening |
title_short |
Spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of Weddell Polynya opening |
title_full |
Spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of Weddell Polynya opening |
title_fullStr |
Spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of Weddell Polynya opening |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of Weddell Polynya opening |
title_sort |
spaceborne infrared imagery for early detection of weddell polynya opening |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3401-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3401/2021/tc-15-3401-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f94cf9b6bb3a456598f42300490221f1 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean Weddell |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean Weddell |
genre |
Sea ice Southern Ocean The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Sea ice Southern Ocean The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 3401-3421 (2021) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-15-3401-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3401/2021/tc-15-3401-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f94cf9b6bb3a456598f42300490221f1 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3401-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
3401 |
op_container_end_page |
3421 |
_version_ |
1766192208397991936 |