Using new techniques to measure pan-Arctic sea ice thickness from the satellite radar altimeter Cryosat-2 during summer months

Prototype system for Arctic Mission Benefit Analysis (ArcMBA) that makes a mathematically rigorous evaluation of the effect that observational constraints imposed by individual and groups of EO (and in situ) data products would have in an advanced data assimilation system. The assessment is performed in terms of the uncertainty reduction in simulated/predicted sea ice, snow, and oceanic target quantities of scientific and societal interest.

The overarching project objectiveis threefold- 1) Supporting the development of novel products and enhanced data sets responding to the needs of the Arctic science community;2) Fostering new scientific results addressing the main priority areas of Arctic research;3) Preparing a solid scientific basis for larger activities addressing the priorities of the Arctic science community; This shall involve the collaborationamong the different scientific communities involved in Arctic process studies, modellers and EO experts.

The project will deliver the first measurements of Arctic sea ice thickness during summer months, from twin satellites- ESA s CryoSat-2 & NASA s ICESat-2. Research linked to LPF project ArcticSummIT (https://eo4society.esa.int/projects/arcticsummit-arctic-summer-ice-thickness/)

Automated open source processing chain using Sentinel-3 OLCI and SLSTR sensors to determine a dry/wet snow and clean/polluted bare ice spectral and broadband optical albedo 1 km daily product for land ice (glaciers, ice caps, ice sheet)

The study aimed at exploring, developing and validating different approaches to retrieve snow thickness over sea ice; to develop a new prototype processor; and to produce and validate an experimental dataset of snow thickness over the Arctic.

Develop and validate different approaches to retrieve snow thickness over the sea ice, to develop a new prototype processor, and to produce and validate an experimental dataset of snow thickness over the Arctic.

Making inference about the state of the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets with the production of swath elevations, DEMs, elevation change and innovative science products making use of the technique of swath interferometry applied to SARIn mode CryoSat data.

Exploitation of CryoSat 2 data over the open and coastal ocean

Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) is a key indicator of the freshwater fluxes and an important variable to understand the changes the Arctic is facing. However, salinity in-situ measurements are very sparse in the Arctic region. For this reason, remote sensing salinity measurements (currently provided by L-band radiometry satellites, SMOS and SMAP) are of special relevance for this region. The retrieval of SSS in the Arctic represents a challenge, because brightness temperatures measured by L-band satellites are less sensitive to salinity in cold waters. An additional drawback consists in the presence of sea ice, that contaminates the brightness temperature and must be adequately processed. The ESA Arctic+ Salinity project (Dec 2018 – June 2020) will contribute to reduce the knowledge gap in the characterization of the freshwater flux changes in the Arctic region.