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Analysis of Sea-Ice Areas Undetectable by the ASI Algorithm Based on Satellite Microwave Radiometry in the Arctic Ocean

  • USE OF SPACE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EARTH STUDYING SEAS AND OCEANS FROM SPACE
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Abstract

In the period of intense ice melting, algorithms retrieving sea-ice concentration from satellite microwave radiometry (SMR) data may fail to detect vast regions of floating ice. Late-stage melting is characterized by an abundance of melt ponds on ice, resulting in considerable underestimation of sea-ice concentration. Also, during melting, ice concentration decreases and ice breccias disintegrate; therefore the size of ice floes decreases. In winter, at river mouths in the shelf seas, ice is formed with a heavy load of terrigenous sediments carried by the rivers. A dirty ice surface becomes visible in summer when snow cover melts off. SMR techniques fail to adequately determine dirty ice concentration. The paper considers the impact of ice melt, concentration, floe size, and dirtiness on the determination of sea ice extent in the Arctic in summer using the ARTIST Sea Ice (ASI) algorithm. Our study shows that the portion of ice cover left undetected by the SMR technique may range in different years 5.7 to 23.3% of the total Arctic sea ice extent.

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CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Funding

The work with ice maps compiled at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARRC) Ice and Hydrometeorological Information Center and AARI ice airborne reconnaissance data was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 18-05-60048 “Investigation of the Interannual Variability of the Sea Ice Balance in the Arctic Ocean at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Centuries” (T.A. Alekseeva and V.M. Smolyanitskiy). The work with the data of the ASI algorithm and satellite images in the visible range was carried out within the framework of the topic “Monitoring”, state registration no. 01.20.0.2.00164 (Yu.V. Sokolova, V.V. Tikhonov, M.D. Raev, and E.A. Sharkov).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, 199397, St. Petersburg, Russia

    T. A. Alekseeva, J. V. Sokolova, V. M. Smolyanitsky & E. V. Afanasyeva

  2. Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117996, Moscow, Russia

    T. A. Alekseeva, J. V. Sokolova, V. V. Tikhonov, M. D. Raev & E. A. Sharkov

  3. Institute for Water and Environmental Problems of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 656038, Barnaul, Russia

    V. V. Tikhonov

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  1. T. A. Alekseeva
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  2. J. V. Sokolova
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  3. V. V. Tikhonov
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  4. V. M. Smolyanitsky
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  5. E. V. Afanasyeva
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  6. M. D. Raev
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  7. E. A. Sharkov
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Correspondence to T. A. Alekseeva.

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Translated by E. Seifina

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Alekseeva, T.A., Sokolova, J.V., Tikhonov, V.V. et al. Analysis of Sea-Ice Areas Undetectable by the ASI Algorithm Based on Satellite Microwave Radiometry in the Arctic Ocean. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 57, 1690–1704 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433821120033

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