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CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENTS
Measurements
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Snow and Ice
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Sea ice cover, edge and thickness
Sea ice variability is a key indicator of climate variability and change which is characterised by a number of parameters. In addition to monitoring ice extent (the total area covered by ice at any concentration) and concentration (the area covered by ice per unit area of ocean), it is necessary to know ice thickness in order to estimate sea ice volume or mass balance.
Detailed Measurement
Description*
Instruments
Timeline
Glacier Area
2D vector outlines of glaciers and ice caps (delineating glacier area)
0 instruments
Glacier cover
Link:
Fraction of a land area covered by permanent ice - Physical unit [ % ], Accuracy unit [ % ]
16 instruments
Glacier motion
Variation of glacier boundary in a specific direction. [Unit of measurement -m/y]
17 instruments
Iceberg fractional cover
Fraction of the ground area covered by icebergs. [Unit of measurement - %]
10 instruments
Iceberg height
Vertical projection of an area covered by icebergs. [Unit of measurement - m]
0 instruments
Sea-ice Concentration
The ocean area fraction of a cell covered by sea ice.
2 instruments
Sea-ice cover
Link:
Fraction of ice in an ocean area - Physical unit: [ % ] - Accuracy unit: [ % ].
59 instruments
Sea-ice motion
Link:
Sea ice motion Measuring Units km*d-1 Uncertainty Units km*d-1
2 instruments
Sea-ice surface temperature
Temperature of the surface of sea-ice - Physical unit: [ K ] - Accuracy unit: [ K ].
9 instruments
Sea-ice thickness
Link:
Thickness of the ice sheet - related to sea-ice elevation and density - Physical unit [ cm ], Accuracy unit [ cm ]
14 instruments
Sea-ice type
Parameter convolving several factors (age, roughness, density, etc.) - Accuracy expressed as number of classes. Actually [ classes-1 ] is used, so that smaller figure corresponds to better performance, as usual.
19 instruments
* Description adapted from WMO.
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