Estimation of Sea Ice Freeboard from SARAL/AltiKa Data

Abstract

An attempt has been made to derive sea ice freeboard from Ka-band Altimeter (SARAL/AltiKa) over Arctic region for 15 March–15 April 2013 (spring) and 15 September–15 October 2013 (autumn). A waveform template matching technique is employed for classification of leads and floe pixels. The estimated sea ice freeboards were found in close agreement with “Operation IceBridge quick look” freeboards (RMSD = 0.30 m). The differences between the two freeboards were largely due to snow layer over sea ice (R = 0.8). The estimated freeboards were of the order of 0.08–0.15 m during the two seasons.