Early Springtime Snowcover on East Antarctic Sea Ice, ARISE 2003: Variability and Satellite Validation.
Abstract
This work provides an analysis of snow thickness and properties data collected during the "Antarctic Remote Ice Sensing Experiment" (ARISE) cruise to the region of the East Antarctic sea ice zone bounded by 64-65°S and 112- 119°E (September/October 2003). Detailed sea ice and snowcover data were acquired within a 100 x 50 km region defined by an array of 9 GPS beacons deployed onto ice floes, and divided into eight 25 x 25 km sub- regions equivalent to the dimension of EOS AMSR-E sea ice product pixels. The location of the beacons through time was used to determine sampling sites so that the ice being sampled was always that which was within the original area, even though it had drifted westwards and deformed. Measurements made within and around the experimental area included digital aerial photography, snow thickness sampling of 40 floes by helicopter, and detailed in situ measurements of snow and ice thickness and properties on floes at 13 "ice stations". These were typically occupied for 8-10 hours, although one station lasted for 4 days and was later revisited after a storm. This enabled the measurement of changes in snow thickness due to snowfall. In this study, we examine the impact of an ephemeral melt event on snow and ice physical properties and on AMSR-E snow thickness retrieval accuracy, and show first results from a validation (using the ARISE data) of important new regional-scale ice thickness estimates derived from coincident ICESat laser altimeter data.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AGUFM.C11B0447M
- Keywords:
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- 0736 Snow (1827;
- 1863);
- 0750 Sea ice (4540);
- 0758 Remote sensing