scholarly journals Standardization of electromagnetic–induction measurements of Sea-ice thickness in polar and Subpolar Seas

2006 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 240-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Tateyama ◽  
K. Shirasawa ◽  
S. Uto ◽  
T. Kawamura ◽  
T. Toyota ◽  
...  

AbstractElectromagnetic–induction (EM) instruments can be used to estimate Sea-ice thickness because of the large contrast in the conductivities of Sea ice and Sea water, and are currently used in investigations of Sea-ice thickness. In this Study we analyze Several Snow, ice and Sea-water Samples and attempt to derive an appropriate formula to transform the apparent conductivity obtained from EM measurements to the total thickness of Snow and ice for all regions and Seasons. This was done to Simplify the EM tuning procedure. Surface EM measurement transects with the instrument at varying heights above the ice were made in the Chukchi Sea, off East Antarctica, in the Sea of Okhotsk and in Saroma-ko (lagoon). A Standardized transformation formula based on a one-dimensional multi-layer model was developed that also considers the effects of water-filled gaps between deformed ice, a Saline Snow Slush layer, and the increase in the footprint Size caused by increasing the instrument height. The overall average error in ice thickness determined with the Standardized transform was <7%, and the regional average errors were 2.2% for the Arctic, 7.0% for the Antarctic, 6.5% for the Sea of Okhotsk and 4.4% for Saroma-ko.

Geophysics ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 1992-1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin Kovacs ◽  
Rexford M. Morey

Field trials using a man‐portable, commercially available, electromagnetic induction (EMI) sounding instrument, with a plug‐in data processing module for the remote measurement of sea ice thickness, are discussed. The processing module was made to allow for the direct determination of sea ice thickness and to show the result in a numerical display. The processing module system was capable of estimating ice thickness within 10 percent of the the true ice value for ice from about 0.7 to 3.5 m thick, the thickest of undeformed ice in our study area. However, since seawater under the Arctic pack ice has relatively uniform conductivity (2.55 ± 0.05 S/m), a simplified method can be used for estimating sea ice thickness using just an EMI instrument. This technique uses only the EMI conductivity measurement, is easy to put into use, and does not rely on theoretically derived look‐up tables or phasor diagrams, which may not be accurate for the conditions of the area.


2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1541-1548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasushi Fukamachi ◽  
Kunio Shirasawa ◽  
Anatoliy M. Polomoshnov ◽  
Kay I. Ohshima ◽  
Ervin Kalinin ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (76pt2) ◽  
pp. 101-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sohey Nihashi ◽  
Nathan T. Kurtz ◽  
Thorsten Markus ◽  
Kay I. Ohshima ◽  
Kazutaka Tateyama ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTSea-ice thickness in the Sea of Okhotsk is estimated for 2004–2008 from ICESat derived freeboard under the assumption of hydrostatic balance. Total ice thickness including snow depth (htot) averaged over 2004–2008 is 95 cm. The interannual variability of htot is large; from 77.5 cm (2008) to 110.4 cm (2005). The mode of htot varies from 50–60 cm (2007 and 2008) to 70–80 cm (2005). Ice thickness derived from ICESat data is validated from a comparison with that observed by Electromagnetic Induction Instrument (EM) aboard the icebreaker Soya near Hokkaido, Japan. Annual maps of htot reveal that the spatial distribution of htot is similar every year. Ice volume of 6.3 × 1011 m3 is estimated from the ICESat derived htot and AMSR-E derived ice concentration. A comparison with ice area demonstrates that the ice volume cannot always be represented by the area solely, despite the fact that the area has been used as a proxy of the volume in the Sea of Okhotsk. The ice volume roughly corresponds to that of annual ice production in the major coastal polynyas estimated based on heat budget calculations. This also supports the validity of the estimation of sea-ice thickness and volume using ICESat data.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isolde Glissenaar ◽  
Jack Landy ◽  
Alek Petty ◽  
Nathan Kurtz ◽  
Julienne Stroeve

&lt;p&gt;The ice cover of the Arctic Ocean is increasingly becoming dominated by seasonal sea ice. It is important to focus on the processing of altimetry ice thickness data in thinner seasonal ice regions to understand seasonal sea ice behaviour better. This study focusses on Baffin Bay as a region of interest to study seasonal ice behaviour.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We aim to reconcile the spring sea ice thickness derived from multiple satellite altimetry sensors and sea ice charts in Baffin Bay and produce a robust long-term record (2003-2020) for analysing trends in sea ice thickness. We investigate the impact of choosing different snow depth products (the Warren climatology, a passive microwave snow depth product and modelled snow depth from reanalysis data) and snow redistribution methods (a sigmoidal function and an empirical piecewise function) to retrieve sea ice thickness from satellite altimetry sea ice freeboard data.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The choice of snow depth product and redistribution method results in an uncertainty envelope around the March mean sea ice thickness in Baffin Bay of 10%. Moreover, the sea ice thickness trend ranges from -15 cm/dec to 20 cm/dec depending on the applied snow depth product and redistribution method. Previous studies have shown a possible long-term asymmetrical trend in sea ice thinning in Baffin Bay. The present study shows that whether a significant long-term asymmetrical trend was found depends on the choice of snow depth product and redistribution method. The satellite altimetry sea ice thickness results with different snow depth products and snow redistribution methods show that different processing techniques can lead to different results and can influence conclusions on total and spatial sea ice thickness trends. Further processing work on the historic radar altimetry record is needed to create reliable sea ice thickness products in the marginal ice zone.&lt;/p&gt;


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Tilling ◽  
A. Ridout ◽  
A. Shepherd

Abstract. Timely observations of sea ice thickness help us to understand Arctic climate, and can support maritime activities in the Polar Regions. Although it is possible to calculate Arctic sea ice thickness using measurements acquired by CryoSat-2, the latency of the final release dataset is typically one month, due to the time required to determine precise satellite orbits. We use a new fast delivery CryoSat-2 dataset based on preliminary orbits to compute Arctic sea ice thickness in near real time (NRT), and analyse this data for one sea ice growth season from October 2014 to April 2015. We show that this NRT sea ice thickness product is of comparable accuracy to that produced using the final release CryoSat-2 data, with an average thickness difference of 5 cm, demonstrating that the satellite orbit is not a critical factor in determining sea ice freeboard. In addition, the CryoSat-2 fast delivery product also provides measurements of Arctic sea ice thickness within three days of acquisition by the satellite, and a measurement is delivered, on average, within 10, 7 and 6 km of each location in the Arctic every 2, 14 and 28 days respectively. The CryoSat-2 NRT sea ice thickness dataset provides an additional constraint for seasonal predictions of Arctic climate change, and will allow industries such as tourism and transport to navigate the polar oceans with safety and care.


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