Retrieval of Antarctic sea ice freeboard and thickness from HY-2B satellite altimeter data

Yizhuo Chen; Xiaoping Pang; Qing Ji; Zhongnan Yan; Zeyu Liang; Chenlei Zhang

doi:10.1007/s13131-023-2250-2

Volume 43 Issue 3

Mar. 2024

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Article Navigation > Acta Oceanologica Sinica > 2024 > 43(3): 87-101

Yizhuo Chen, Xiaoping Pang, Qing Ji, Zhongnan Yan, Zeyu Liang, Chenlei Zhang. Retrieval of Antarctic sea ice freeboard and thickness from HY-2B satellite altimeter data[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2024, 43(3): 87-101. doi: 10.1007/s13131-023-2250-2

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Yizhuo Chen, Xiaoping Pang, Qing Ji, Zhongnan Yan, Zeyu Liang, Chenlei Zhang. Retrieval of Antarctic sea ice freeboard and thickness from HY-2B satellite altimeter data[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2024, 43(3): 87-101. doi: 10.1007/s13131-023-2250-2

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Retrieval of Antarctic sea ice freeboard and thickness from HY-2B satellite altimeter data

doi: 10.1007/s13131-023-2250-2

Yizhuo Chen¹,
Xiaoping Pang^{1, 2, 3
,
,},
Qing Ji^{1, 4
,
,},
Zhongnan Yan¹,
Zeyu Liang¹,
Chenlei Zhang¹

1.
Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
2.
Key Laboratory of Polar Surveying and Mapping Science, Ministry of Natural Resources, Wuhan 430079, China
3.
Key Laboratory of Polar Environment Monitoring and Public Governance, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China
4.
School of Geography and Tourism, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241002, China

Funds: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 42076235.

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: pxp@whu.edu.cn; jiqing@whu.edu.cn
Received Date: 2023-04-10
Accepted Date: 2023-09-08

Available Online: 2024-03-18

Publish Date: 2024-03-25

Abstract

Abstract

Antarctic sea ice is an important part of the Earth’s atmospheric system, and satellite remote sensing is an important technology for observing Antarctic sea ice. Whether Chinese Haiyang-2B (HY-2B) satellite altimeter data could be used to estimate sea ice freeboard and provide alternative Antarctic sea ice thickness information with a high precision and long time series, as other radar altimetry satellites can, needs further investigation. This paper proposed an algorithm to discriminate leads and then retrieve sea ice freeboard and thickness from HY-2B radar altimeter data. We first collected the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ice surface temperature (IST) product from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to extract leads from the Antarctic waters and verified their accuracy through Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar images. Second, a surface classification decision tree was generated for HY-2B satellite altimeter measurements of the Antarctic waters to extract leads and calculate local sea surface heights. We then estimated the Antarctic sea ice freeboard and thickness based on local sea surface heights and the static equilibrium equation. Finally, the retrieved HY-2B Antarctic sea ice thickness was compared with the CryoSat-2 sea ice thickness and the Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt) ship-based observed sea ice thickness. The results indicate that our classification decision tree constructed for HY-2B satellite altimeter measurements was reasonable, and the root mean square error of the obtained sea ice thickness compared to the ship measurements was 0.62 m. The proposed sea ice thickness algorithm for the HY-2B radar satellite fills a gap in this application domain for the HY-series satellites and can be a complement to existing Antarctic sea ice thickness products; this algorithm could provide long-time-series and large-scale sea ice thickness data that contribute to research on global climate change.
- HY-2B satellite altimeter,
- classification decision tree,
- sea ice freeboard and thickness,
- Antarctic waters

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References(55)

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