Validation of Airborne FMCW Radar Measurements of Snow Thickness Over Sea Ice in Antarctica

Antarctic sea ice and its snow cover are integral components of the global climate system, yet many aspects of their vertical dimensions are poorly understood, making their representation in global climate models poor. Remote sensing is the key to monitoring the dynamic nature of sea ice and its snow cover. Reliable and accurate snow thickness data are currently a highly sought after data product. Remotely sensed snow thickness measurements can provide an indication of precipitation levels, predicted to increase with effects of climate change in the polar regions. Airborne techniques provide a means for regional-scale estimation of snow depth and distribution. Accurate regional-scale snow thickness data will also facilitate an increase in the accuracy of sea ice thickness retrieval from satellite altimeter freeboard estimates. The airborne data sets are easier to validate with in situ measurements and are better suited to validating satellite algorithms when compared with in situ techniques. This is primarily due to two factors: better chance of getting coincident in situ and airborne data sets and the tractability of comparison between an in situ data set and the airborne data set averaged over the footprint of the antennas. A 28-GHz frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar loaned by the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets to the Australian Antarctic Division is used to measure snow thickness over sea ice in East Antarctica. Provided with the radar design parameters, the expected performance parameters of the radar are summarized. The necessary conditions for unambiguous identification of the airsnow and snowice layers for the radar are presented. Roughnesses of the snow and ice surfaces are found to be dominant determinants in the effectiveness of layer identification for this radar. Finally, this paper presents the first in situ validated snow thickness estimates over sea ice in Antarctica derived from an FMCW radar on a helicopterborne platform

Decadal decrease of Antarctic sea ice extent inferred from whaling records revisited on the basis of historical and modern sea ice records

In previous work, whaling catch positions were used as a proxy record for the position of the Antarctic sea ice edge and mean sea ice extent greater than the present one spanning 2.8° latitude was postulated to have occurred in the pre-1950s period, compared to extents observed since 1973 from microwave satellite imagery. The previous conclusion of an extended northern latitude for ice extent in the earlier epoch applied only to the January (mid-summer) period. For this summer period, however, there are also possible differences between ship and satellite-derived measurements. Our work showed a consistent summer offset (November– December), with the ship-observed ice edge 1 - 1.5° north of the satellitederived ice edge. We further reexamine the use of whale catch as an ice edge proxy where agreement was claimed between the satellite ice edge (1973–1987) and the ship whale catch positions. This examination shows that, while there may be a linear correlation between ice edge position and whale catch data, the slope of the line deviates from unity and the ice edge is also further north in the whale catch data than in the satellite data for most latitudes. We compare the historical (direct) record and modern satellite maps of ice edge position accounting for these differences in ship and satellite observations. This comparison shows that only regional perturbations took place earlier, without significant deviations in the mean ice extents, from the pre-1950s to the post-1970s. This conclusion contradicts that previously stated from the analysis of whale catch data that indicated Antarctic sea ice extent changes were circumpolar rather than regional in nature between the two periods