Author(s): T. Maksym; L. Toudal; M. D. Coon; M. L. Van Woert
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: A new marginal ice zone (MIZ) model is under development for use at the National Ice Center (NIC) in Washington, DC as a tool to aid expert ice analysts in the production of operational ice charts. The model thermodynamics are driven by daily ice concentration retrievals from passive microwave data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I). Validation of the model for the autumn, 2001 ice advance in the Barents Sea was performed by comparison with a series of Radarsat synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and field observations obtained aboard the USCGC Healy in the Barents Sea in October, 2001. The model is shown to perform very well―episodes of new ice growth are well detected and predicted concentrations of new and young ice typically match observations to within the accuracy of the SAR interpretation. The model is shown to produce the observed ice conditions in late October more accurately than the NIC ice chart produced from the same SAR data.
Year: 2002