Winter Sentinel-1 Backscatter as a Predictor of Spring Arctic Sea Ice Melt Pond Fraction

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorScharien, Randall K.
dc.contributor.authorSegal, Rebecca
dc.contributor.authorNasonova, Sasha
dc.contributor.authorNandan, Vishnu
dc.contributor.authorHowell, Stephen E. L.
dc.contributor.authorHaas, Christian
dc.date.accessioned2019-03-13T05:23:15Z
dc.date.available2019-03-13T05:23:15Z
dc.date.copyright2017en_US
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractSpring melt pond fraction (fp) has been shown to influence September sea ice extent and, with a growing need to improve melt pond physics in climate and forecast models, observations at large spatial scales are needed. We present a novel technique for estimating fp on sea ice at high spatial resolution from the Sentinel‐1 satellite during the winter period leading up to spring melt. A strong correlation (r = −0.85) is found between winter radar backscatter and fp from first‐year and multiyear sea ice data collected in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) in 2015. Observations made in the CAA in 2016 are used to validate a fp retrieval algorithm, and a fp prediction for the CAA in 2017 is made. The method is effective using the horizontal transmit and receive polarization channel only and shows promise for providing seasonal, pan‐Arctic, fp maps for improved understanding of melt pond distributions and forecast model skill.en_US
dc.description.reviewstatusRevieweden_US
dc.description.scholarlevelFacultyen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipData collection and analysis were supported by funds from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant (DG), Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction, and Response Network (MEOPAR), and the Changing Earth Science Network, part of the European Space Agency's Support To Science Element (STSE). The authors declare no financial conflicts of interests. Sentinel-1 data are available from the online database Copernicus Open Access Hub (https://scihub.copernicus.eu/). GeoEye-1 data are available at a cost from the DigitalGlobe database (https://browse.digitalglobe.com/). Supporting data are included as Data Set S1. Under certain terms and conditions, GeoEye-1 data may be available free of charge from the European Space Agency.en_US
dc.identifier.citationScharien, R. K.; Segal, R.; Nasonova, S.; Nandan, V.; Howell, S. E. L.; & Haas, C. (2017). Winter Sentinel-1 backscatter as a predictor of spring Arctic sea ice melt pond fraction. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(24). DOI: 10.1002/2017GL075547en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075547
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/10645
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherGeophysical Research Lettersen_US
dc.subjectsea iceen_US
dc.subjectmelt pondsen_US
dc.subjectmicrowave backscatteren_US
dc.subjectSentinel-1en_US
dc.subjectseasonal forecasten_US
dc.titleWinter Sentinel-1 Backscatter as a Predictor of Spring Arctic Sea Ice Melt Pond Fractionen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
scharien_randall_geophysreslett_2017.pdf
Size:
971.22 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Faculty Publications (Social Sciences)
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.