Variability of sea ice in the Arctic according to the Arctic Portal

Abstract

The Arctic Portal of the Laboratory of Satellite Oceanography of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University is an open geo-informational system designed for operational monitoring of the sea ice–ocean–atmosphere system in the Arctic. Possibilities to use the Arctic Portal for the Arctic sea ice monitoring on the basis of satellite data, as well as the types of satellite measurements suitable for studying the properties of sea ice: active and passive microwave data; data of spectral radiometers in the infrared (IR) and visible ranges are considered. Every type of satellite data has certain limitations. For the study of sea ice the most suitable are the all-season remote sensing data – measurements of microwave instruments, independent of clouds and time of a day. Existing in the world resources of the sea ice maps and satellite data on sea ice are either closed for users or limited in their informational content. Several types of satellite data are currently available on the Arctic portal: Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, 8-day averaged MODIS reflectivity data, optical and IR MODIS data of original time and spatial resolution, Norwegian Meteorological University sea ice maps, and data on consolidation of sea ice, based on passive microwave radiometer measurements. Some data is additionally available in the test mode. The effectiveness of combined use of various satellite data on the sea ice is proved by the examples of sea ice analyses.

Keywords

• arctic portal
• satellite data
• sea ice monitoring in the arctic