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Evaluation of Operation IceBridge quick‐look snow depth estimates on sea ice
Author(s) -
King Joshua,
Howell Stephen,
Derksen Chris,
Rutter Nick,
Toose Peter,
Beckers Justin F.,
Haas Christian,
Kurtz Nathan,
RichterMenge Jacqueline
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl066389
Subject(s) - snow , environmental science , mean squared error , remote sensing , root mean square , sea ice , geology , atmospheric sciences , climatology , geomorphology , physics , mathematics , statistics , quantum mechanics
Abstract We evaluate Operation IceBridge (OIB) “quick‐look” snow depth on sea ice retrievals using in situ measurements taken over immobile first‐year ice (FYI) and multiyear ice (MYI) during March of 2014. Good agreement was found over undeformed FYI (−4.5 cm mean bias) with reduced agreement over deformed FYI (−6.6 cm mean bias). Over MYI, the mean bias was −5.7 cm, but 54% of retrievals were discarded by the OIB retrieval process as compared to only 10% over FYI. Footprint scale analysis revealed a root‐mean‐square error (RMSE) of 6.2 cm over undeformed FYI with RMSE of 10.5 cm and 17.5 cm in the more complex deformed FYI and MYI environments. Correlation analysis was used to demonstrate contrasting retrieval uncertainty associated with spatial aggregation and ice surface roughness.