Component reflectance scheme for DMSP-derived sea ice reflectances in the Arctic Basin

Abstract

Abstract A scheme is introduced which in effect 'splits’ Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) single broadband sea ice reflectances into weighted visible and near-infrared (NIR) component reflectances. The method is rooted in (1) the fitting of polynomials to observed spectral reflectance curves of sea ice, (2) a weighting scheme and (3) the identification of general sea ice types and their corresponding areal coverage per imaged cell. Previously derived DMSP broadband sea ice reflectances in the Arctic Basin have been spectrally sequestered into visible and NIR component reflectances for May to August for the years 1977, 1979, 1984 and 1985. Comparison of spectrally modified DMSP visible reflectances (0-4-0-9 µm) are in closer agreement with NOAA-5 derived visible sea ice reflectances (0-52-0-72 µm ) than unmodified DMSP visible/NIR reflectances (0-4-1-1 µm ) for July 1977 in the Arctic Basin. It was also found that melt pond and flooding effects were more apparent for spectrally-modified NIR reflectances as compared to spectrally-modified visible reflectances. Possible uses of the scheme and newly created data sets are discussed.