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Satellite Analysis of the SHEBA Summer Sea Ice Cover |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
ben@pacific.jpl.nasa.gov
To examine the summer heat transfer between the atmosphere-ice-ocean and to assess the importance of lateral melt, we have derived the floe size distribution, open water concentration and ice radar backscatter in the region surrounding the SHEBA ice station during the summer of 1998 using radar imagery (SAR) from ERS-2 and Radarsat and specialized image algorithms to derive the specific measurements. Suitable floe distributions from SAR were only obtained during August due primarily to the nature of the ice cover. The SAR measurements reliably obtain distributions for floes with diameters greater than about 400-500 m. To augment the smaller floe size scale, we make use of the satellite reconnaissance imagery. Comparisons of these measurements are made with meteorological and ice measurements to identify relationships between the ice cover measurements and environmental conditions. These measurements will ultimately be compared with an ice floe geometry numerical model driven by field data and parameterizations being developed by the other members of the study team, M. Steele (U. Washington) and M. Hopkins (CRREL).
