FY2004 Research Products

Sea ice observations in the sub-arctic and arctic by advanced satellite sensors of ADEOS-II and AQUA with field observations

  • PI: Dr. Hiroyuki Enomoto
  • Project title: Sea Ice Observations in the Arctic by Advanced Satellite Sensors of ADEOS-II

Our research project has five objectives to accomplish through microwave satellite remote sensing with in-situ observations on sea-ice in the Sea of Okhotsk north of Hokkaido, Japan, the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska and on the land snow cover at Barrow, Alaska. The objectives are:

  1. Improvement of microwave remote sensing techniques for estimation of sea ice growth (freezing) and decay (melting),
  2. Detection and estimation of snow properties (e.g water content, grain size and density) and their temporal changes using microwave remote sensing techniques,
  3. Analysis of ice motions along the Alaskan coast of the Beaufort and Bering Seas,
  4. Research the snow-to-ice density transition to understand changes in the physical properties of ice during melting,
  5. Research of ice and snow conditions linked to microbiological activities and their variations.
Fig 3a  Fig. 3b 

Figure 3.

  1. Ice thickness estimate of seasonal sea ice in the freezing stage: New ice formation and growing rate can be determined from the data. Snow cover, brine release during warm period, and melt water are possible errors. Field surveys to validate the data in Okhotsk (Hokkaido) and Barrow (Alaska) are continuing.
  2. Aerial photo of coastline (May 2004, photo: T. Saito - IARC),and
  3. Melt pond (June 2004). Same as the field surveys: fundamental data are obtained through tank experiments (copyright, H. Enomoto).
Fig. 4 Ice thickness and drift Figure 4. Combinations of ice thickness and drift enable us to estimate sea ice transport in the Sea of Okhotsk (copyright, T. Saito and H. Enomoto).

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