Remote Sensing of Surface Melt on Antarctica: Opportunities and Challenges
Surface melt is an important driver of ice shelf disintegration and its consequent mass loss over the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Monitoring surface melt using satellite remote sensing can enhance our understanding of ice shelf stability. However, the sensors do not measure the actual physical process of s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2023-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9928323/ |
| _version_ | 1797871581025796096 |
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| author | Sophie de Roda Husman Zhongyang Hu Bert Wouters Peter Kuipers Munneke Sanne Veldhuijsen Stef Lhermitte |
| author_facet | Sophie de Roda Husman Zhongyang Hu Bert Wouters Peter Kuipers Munneke Sanne Veldhuijsen Stef Lhermitte |
| author_sort | Sophie de Roda Husman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Surface melt is an important driver of ice shelf disintegration and its consequent mass loss over the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Monitoring surface melt using satellite remote sensing can enhance our understanding of ice shelf stability. However, the sensors do not measure the actual physical process of surface melt, but rather observe the presence of liquid water. Moreover, the sensor observations are influenced by the sensor characteristics and surface properties. Therefore, large inconsistencies can exist in the derived melt estimates from different sensors. In this study, we apply state-of-the-art melt detection algorithms to four frequently used remote sensing sensors, i.e., two active microwave sensors, which are Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) and Sentinel-1, a passive microwave sensor, i.e., Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS), and an optical sensor, i.e., Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We intercompare the melt detection results over the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet and four selected study regions for the melt seasons 2015–2020. Our results show large spatiotemporal differences in detected melt between the sensors, with particular disagreement in blue ice areas, in aquifer regions, and during wintertime surface melt. We discuss that discrepancies between sensors are mainly due to cloud obstruction and polar darkness, frequency-dependent penetration of satellite signals, temporal resolution, and spatial resolution, as well as the applied melt detection methods. Nevertheless, we argue that different sensors can complement each other, enabling improved detection of surface melt over the Antarctic Ice Sheet. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:45:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-783b335db71543b9b7b05c9bd1a345a9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2151-1535 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:45:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-783b335db71543b9b7b05c9bd1a345a92023-03-13T23:00:24ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing2151-15352023-01-01162462248010.1109/JSTARS.2022.32169539928323Remote Sensing of Surface Melt on Antarctica: Opportunities and ChallengesSophie de Roda Husman0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8830-9894Zhongyang Hu1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1793-3806Bert Wouters2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1086-2435Peter Kuipers Munneke3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5555-3831Sanne Veldhuijsen4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3388-6824Stef Lhermitte5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1622-0177Department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The NetherlandsInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The NetherlandsDepartment of Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The NetherlandsInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The NetherlandsInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The NetherlandsDepartment of Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The NetherlandsSurface melt is an important driver of ice shelf disintegration and its consequent mass loss over the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Monitoring surface melt using satellite remote sensing can enhance our understanding of ice shelf stability. However, the sensors do not measure the actual physical process of surface melt, but rather observe the presence of liquid water. Moreover, the sensor observations are influenced by the sensor characteristics and surface properties. Therefore, large inconsistencies can exist in the derived melt estimates from different sensors. In this study, we apply state-of-the-art melt detection algorithms to four frequently used remote sensing sensors, i.e., two active microwave sensors, which are Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) and Sentinel-1, a passive microwave sensor, i.e., Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS), and an optical sensor, i.e., Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We intercompare the melt detection results over the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet and four selected study regions for the melt seasons 2015–2020. Our results show large spatiotemporal differences in detected melt between the sensors, with particular disagreement in blue ice areas, in aquifer regions, and during wintertime surface melt. We discuss that discrepancies between sensors are mainly due to cloud obstruction and polar darkness, frequency-dependent penetration of satellite signals, temporal resolution, and spatial resolution, as well as the applied melt detection methods. Nevertheless, we argue that different sensors can complement each other, enabling improved detection of surface melt over the Antarctic Ice Sheet.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9928323/Antarctic Ice SheetEarth observationice shelvesmelt detectionmultisource remote sensingpolar regions |
| spellingShingle | Sophie de Roda Husman Zhongyang Hu Bert Wouters Peter Kuipers Munneke Sanne Veldhuijsen Stef Lhermitte Remote Sensing of Surface Melt on Antarctica: Opportunities and Challenges IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing Antarctic Ice Sheet Earth observation ice shelves melt detection multisource remote sensing polar regions |
| title | Remote Sensing of Surface Melt on Antarctica: Opportunities and Challenges |
| title_full | Remote Sensing of Surface Melt on Antarctica: Opportunities and Challenges |
| title_fullStr | Remote Sensing of Surface Melt on Antarctica: Opportunities and Challenges |
| title_full_unstemmed | Remote Sensing of Surface Melt on Antarctica: Opportunities and Challenges |
| title_short | Remote Sensing of Surface Melt on Antarctica: Opportunities and Challenges |
| title_sort | remote sensing of surface melt on antarctica opportunities and challenges |
| topic | Antarctic Ice Sheet Earth observation ice shelves melt detection multisource remote sensing polar regions |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9928323/ |
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