Daily thin-ice thickness maps from modis thermal infrared imagery

• Published in: 2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
• Main Authors: Adams, S., Willmes, S., Schroeder, David, Heinemann, G., Krumpen, T.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Laptev Sea; laptev
• Online Access: https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/55427/; https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/55427/1/19_AWSHK_2012.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS.2012.6350607

Accurate knowledge of ice-production rates within the marginal ice zones of the Arctic Ocean requires monitoring of the thin-ice distribution within polynyas. The thickness of the ice layer controls the heat loss and hence the new-ice formation. An established thinice algorithm using high-resolution MODIS data allows deriving the ice-thickness distribution within polynyas. The average uncertainty is ±4.7 cm for ice thicknesses below 0.2 m. In this study, the ice-thickness distributions within the Laptev Sea polynya for the two winter seasons 2007/08 and 2008/09 are calculated. Then, a new method is applied to determine a daily MODIS thin-ice product.