Evaluation of AMSR2 Thin Ice Area Extraction Algorithm Applied to the Sea Ice Zones of the Northern Hemisphere

摘要

Sea ice has an important role of reflecting the solar radiation back into space. In addition, the heat flux of ice in thin ice areas is strongly affected by the ice thickness difference. Therefore, ice thickness is important parameter of sea ice. For the past few years, the authors have been developing a thin ice area extraction algorithm using passive microwave radiometer AMSR2 for the Northern Hemisphere mainly focused in the Sea of Okhotsk. The basic idea of the algorithm is to use the brightness temperature scatter plots of AMSR2 19GHz polarization difference (V-H) vs 19GHz V polarization. The result was well evaluated by JAXA and was approved as the Research Product of AMSR2. The details of the algorithm and evaluation result applied to the sea ice zones of the Northern Hemisphere are presented in this paler.