HR: 0830h
AN: C11B-0811    [PDF]
TI: Melting of small Arctic ice caps observed from ERS scatterometer time series
AU: * Smith, L C
EM: lsmith@geog.ucla.edu
AF: UCLA, Dept. Geography, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1524 United States
AU: Sheng, Y
EM:
AF: UCLA, Dept. Geography, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1524 United States
AU: Forster, R R
EM:
AF: University of Utah, Dept. Geography, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 United States
AU: Steffen, K
EM:
AF: University of Colorado, Dept. Geography, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Frey, K E
EM:
AF: UCLA, Dept. Geography, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1524 United States
AU: Alsdorf, D E
EM:
AF: UCLA, Dept. Geography, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1524 United States
AB: Time series of active microwave backscatter data from the ERS Wind Scatterometers are used to demonstrate (1) the timing of melt onset can be observed over small ice caps, as well as the major ice sheets and multi-year sea ice; and (2) temporally integrated backscatter reduction (R) is strongly correlated with total annual positive-degree-days (PDD), as measured at four automated weather stations on the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The latter is particularly interesting because unlike melt onset, R is a measure of melt processes integrated over an entire ablation season. Both methods work owing to the well-known sharp decrease in radar backscatter triggered by the appearance of liquid water in a glacier snowpack. Melt onset and R are determined for 14 small Arctic ice caps from 1992-2000. Interannual and regional variability in the timing of melt onset are comparable, averaging 33+9 and 38+13 days, respectively. Regional variability in R exceeds interannual variability, averaging 906+164 and 309+130 dB$\cdot$d, respectively. The brevity of the derived nine-year records limits their statistical testing for trend. However, their qualitative interpretation suggests that the timing of melt onset is more variable for Arctic ice caps than for sea ice, and the intensity of summer surface melting increased by about 20% in the 1990's.
DE: 1827 Glaciology (1863)
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
DE: 6969 Remote sensing
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting