Abstract
Abstract. The spatial and temporal dynamics of melt ponds and sea ice albedo contain information on the current state and the trend of the climate of the Arctic region. This publication presents a study on melt pond fraction (MPF) and sea ice albedo spatial and temporal dynamics obtained with the Melt Pond Detection (MPD) retrieval scheme for the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) satellite data. This study compares sea ice albedo and MPF to surface air temperature reanalysis data, compares MPF retrieved from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and examines albedo and MPF trends. Weekly averages of MPF for 2007 and 2011 showed different MPF dynamics while summer sea ice minimum was similar for both years. The gridded MPF and albedo products compare well to independent reanalysis temperature data and show melt onset when the temperature gets above zero; however MPD shows an offset at low MPFs of about 10 % most probably due to unscreened high clouds. Weekly averaged trends show pronounced dynamics of both, MPF and albedo: a negative MPF trend in the East Siberian Sea and a positive MPF trend around the Queen Elizabeth Islands. The negative MPF trend appears due to a change of the absolute MPF value in its peak, whereas the positive MPF trend is created by the earlier melt onset, with the peak MPF values unchanged. The MPF dynamics in the East Siberian Sea could indicate a temporal change of ice type prevailing in the region, as opposed to the Queen Elizabeth Islands, where MPF dynamics react to an earlier seasonal onset of melt.
Highlights
In the last few decades, the sea ice extent and area of multiyear ice (MYI) has been declining at even faster rate than that of the total perennial ice (Comiso, 2012)
As the temporal evolution of the melt pond fraction (MPF) and the surface albedo is naturally correlated with the evolution in air temperature at the surface, a comparison to National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis temperature data for various ice types was performed to check the performance of the algorithm
This publication presents a detailed analysis of the Melt Pond Detection (MPD) product (Istomina et al, 2015; Zege et al, 2015) consisting of a comparison to reanalysis air surface temperatures, detailed analysis of weekly averages for 2007 and 2011, a comparison to the data by Rösel et al (2012), and an analysis of albedo and MPF trends
Summary
In the last few decades, the sea ice extent (defined as the total area with at least 15 % of ice cover) and area of multiyear ice (MYI) has been declining at even faster rate than that of the total perennial ice (Comiso, 2012). As the temporal evolution of the MPF and the surface albedo is naturally correlated with the evolution in air temperature at the surface, a comparison to National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis temperature data for various ice types was performed to check the performance of the algorithm This has been done for extended periods of time (over the whole summer); in the context of the above-mentioned connection of the MPF and sea ice extent, the MPF dynamics have been studied for the 2 years 2007 and 2011 and compared to the data by Rösel and Kaleschke (2012) for selected cases. For MPF before melt onset, the effect of subpixel ice floes and greater open water fraction as compared to the MYI region may have caused the difference in MPF offset with respect to expected value near zero before melt (Fig. 2)
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