Open Access2006 Greenland Ice Sheet snowmelt from spaceborne microwave brightness temperatures
Author(s) -
Tedesco Marco
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2007eo220003
Subject(s) - snowmelt , greenland ice sheet , brightness temperature , snow , satellite , environmental science , radiometer , climatology , remote sensing , ice sheet , meteorology , geology , brightness , atmospheric sciences , geography , physics , astronomy , geomorphology
Brightness temperatures over the Greenland ice sheet, as measured by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager radiometer (SSM/I) aboard the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite (DMSP) Program's F13 satellite, have now been released (available at ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/pub/DATASETS/brightness‐temperatures/easegrid/ssmi/). These data support the quantification of the number of snow melting days in 2006 (Figure l a ) and the 2006 melting days anomaly (e.g., the difference between 2006 melting days and the average number of melting days between 1988 and 2005; Figure l b ). Updated results are fundamental to longterm trend analyses of snowmelt extent and duration. The 2006 melting index (e.g., the number of melting days × melt extent) follows the trend derived from the analysis of 1988–2005 data, and ranks seventh when using the 19.35‐gigahertz data (with 2005, 2002, 1998, 2004, 1999, and 2003 in this order having a greater melting index). The 2006 melting index ranks fifth when using the 37‐gigahertz data, which are more sensitive to surface processes (with 1998, 2002, 2005, and 2004 in this order having a greater melting index).