Physics – Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Scientific paper
2012-02-29
Physics
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Scientific paper
Ice thickness is an important variable for climate scientists and is still an unsolved problem for satellite remote sensing specialists. There has been some success detecting the thickness of thin ice from microwave radiometers, and with this in mind this study attempts to model the thickness-radiance relation of sea ice at frequencies employed by the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) radiometer and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR): between 1.4 and 89 GHz. In the first part of the study, the salinity of the ice was determined by a pair of empirical relationships, while the temperature was determined by a thermodynamic model. Because the thermodynamic model can be used as a simple ice growth model, in this, second part, the salinities are determined by the growth model. Because the model uses two, constant-weather scenarios representing two extremes ("fall freeze-up" and "winter cold snap"), brine expulsion is modelled with a single correction-step founded on mass conservation. The growth model generates realistic salinity profiles, however it over-estimates the bulk salinity because gravity drainage is not accounted for. The results suggest that the formation of "skim" on the ice surface is important in determining the radiance signature of thin ice, especially at lower frequencies, while scattering is important mainly at higher frequencies but at all ice thicknesses.
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