Name SMOSIce
Title SMOS Sea Ice Retrieval Study
Thematic Area Cryosphere
Cost 200 - 300 K
Action Line Novel Algorithms and Products
Status Completed in 2011
Missions SMOS
Sensors MIRAS
Objectives Sea ice is one of the key parameters quantifying the exchange of energy and water between the ocean and the atmosphere. Accurate knowledge about its state is valuable for many applications including climate research, weather forecasting and operational oceanography. Thin ice with less than about 0.3 meters in thickness is of particular interest for the energy exchange processes between the atmosphere and the ocean in Polar Regions and for the dynamics of sea ice cover. ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is part of ESA's Living Planet Programme and will provide observations at 1.4 GHz. The level-2 data products in the current processor comprise surface soil moisture (over land) and salinity (over oceans). However, due to the relatively high penetration depth at L-band, information about sea ice thickness can be obtained for thin sea ice. This study should facilitate an additional SMOS level-2 product for thin sea-ice (less than 1m thick) complementing the CryoSat sea-ice thickness product. In addition, the link between the SMOS community and the sea-ice community (e.g. the Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Project) shall be consolidated.
ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is part of ESA's Living Planet Programme and will provide observations at 1.4 GHz. The level-2 data products in the current processor comprise surface soil moisture (over land) and salinity (over oceans). However, due to the relatively high penetration depth at L-band, information about sea ice thickness can be obtained for thin sea ice. This study should facilitate an additional SMOS level-2 product for thin sea-ice (less than 1m thick) complementing the CryoSat sea-ice thickness product. In addition, the link between the SMOS community and the sea-ice community (e.g. the Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Project) shall be consolidated.
Project Partners U Hamburg : Universitaet Hamburg(Prime contractor)U Bremen : University of Bremen(Subcontractor)FMI : Finnish Meteorological Institute(Subcontractor)DMI : Danish Meteorological Institute (Subcontractor)AWI : Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research(Subcontractor)
Project Manager Dr. Lars Kaleschke Institut für Meereskunde, KlimaCampus Universität Hamburg Bundesstrasse 53, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany Tel: +49 (0)40 42838 6518 FAX: +49 (0)40 42838 7471 Email: lars.kaleschke@zmaw.de
Technical Officer Matthias Drusch
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