Comparison of sea-ice freeboard distributions from aircraft data and cryosat-2

The only remote sensing technique capable of obtaining sea ice thickness on basin-scale are satellite altimeter missions, such as the 2010 launched CryoSat-2. It is equipped with a Ku-Band radar altimeter which measures the height of the ice surface above the water level. This method requires highly accurate range measurements.

During the CryoSat Validation Experiment (CryoVEx) 2011 in the Lincoln Sea Cryosat-2 underpasses were accomplished with two aircraft which carried an airborne laser scanner, a radar altimeter and an electromagnetic induction device for direct sea ice thickness retrieval. Both aircraft flew in close formation at the same time of a CryoSat-2 overpass.

This is a study about the comparison of the sea-ice freeboard distribution of laser scanner and radar altimeter measurements with the CryoSat-2 product within the multi-year sea ice region of the Lincoln Sea in spring, with respect to the penetration of the Ku-Band signal into the snow and the effect of surface roughness on the radar range retrieval.