Near Real Time Arctic sea ice thickness and volume from CryoSat-2

The Cryosphere Discussions

A.Ridout¹  R.L.Tilling¹  A.Shepherd¹ 

DOI  :  10.5194/tc-2016-21

学科分类：地球科学(综合)

来源: Copernicus Publications

【 摘 要 】

Timely observations of sea ice thickness help us to understand Arctic climate, and cansupportmaritime 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, dueto the time required todetermine 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 releaseCryoSat-2 data, with an average thickness difference of 5 cm, demonstrating that the satellite orbit is not a critical factor in determiningsea ice freeboard. In addition, the CryoSat-2 fast delivery product alsoprovides measurements of Arctic sea ice thickness within three days of acquisition by the satellite, and a measurement is delivered, on average,within10, 7 and 6 km of each locationin the Arctic every 2, 14 and 28 daysrespectively. 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.

【 授权许可】

Unknown