Review of Methods to Retrieve Sea-Ice Parameters from Satellite Microwave Radiometer Data

Abstract

Sea-ice monitoring using long-term data from satellite passive microwave instruments allows one to make quantitative estimates of climatic trends. These numerical estimates depend on the methods used for sea-ice parameter retrievals. This work presents a review of methods to retrieve sea-ice parameters from the data of satellite microwave radiometers. An analysis of the physics of the formation of microwave radiation over sea ice and its transport in the atmosphere makes it possible to determine the main sources of errors and classify methods. This paper considers the basic principles underlying the methods, assumptions, and approximations used and it analyzes the verification data. Weather filters are considered to identify the areas of open water. A comparative analysis of the advantages and limitations of the main sea-ice concentration retrieval methods is provided by measurements of satellite microwave radiometers such as the Radiometers of the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager series (SSM/I) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR). A review of satellite products based on SSM/I, AMSR-E, and AMSR2 data, as well as available Internet resources with operational and historical sea-ice data, is presented.