Sea Ice Elevation in the Western Weddell Sea, Antarctica: Observations From Field Campaign

Abstract

Abstract Sea ice elevation is crucial in the characterization of three‐dimensional (3D) sea ice patterns, providing physical insights to advance sea ice dynamic models. Moreover, how sea ice elevation may be related to the ocean geophysical environment is still a significant knowledge gap, especially in Antarctica. A radar theory relating electromagnetic scattering mechanisms to sea ice elevation over old and deformed rough ice has been reported in a prior companion paper. This follow‐up paper presents the validated model function and synthetic aperture radar (SAR)‐retrieved sea ice elevations based on the field data acquired during the Operation IceBridge and TanDEM‐X Antarctic Science Campaign. A high‐resolution sea ice digital elevation model (DEM) is generated extensively over a 19 × 450 km sector in the Western Weddell Sea, achieving a good accuracy with a low root‐mean‐square error of 0.23 m. From the SAR‐retrieved sea ice DEM, 3D sea ice patterns including roughness height, auto‐correlation lengths, correlation ellipticity, and orientation angles are calculated over the old and deformed rough sea ice. The 3D sea ice patterns give a comprehensive characterization of sea ice topography in the Western Weddell Sea and show the potential to be used for understanding sea ice formation processes in the Antarctic.

Keywords

• sea ice
• SAR
• topography
• DEM
• Antarctic