Sea Ice Cover, Edge And Thickness Measurements

Measurements > Snow and Ice > 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 MeasurementDescriptionInstrumentsTimeline
Glacier Area2D vector outlines of glaciers and ice caps (delineating glacier area)
1 instrument
Timeline for Glacier Area
Glacier coverFraction of a land area covered by permanent ice - Physical unit [ % ], Accuracy unit [ % ]
16 instruments
Timeline for Glacier cover
Glacier motionVariation of glacier boundary in a specific direction. [Unit of measurement -m/y]
18 instruments
Timeline for Glacier motion
Iceberg fractional coverFraction of the ground area covered by icebergs. [Unit of measurement - %]
10 instruments
Timeline for Iceberg fractional cover
Iceberg heightVertical projection of an area covered by icebergs. [Unit of measurement - m]
0 instruments
Timeline for Iceberg height
Sea-ice ConcentrationThe ocean area fraction of a cell covered by sea ice.
4 instruments
Timeline for Sea-ice Concentration
Sea-ice coverFraction of ice in an ocean area - Physical unit: [ % ] - Accuracy unit: [ % ].
61 instruments
Timeline for Sea-ice cover
Sea-ice motionSea ice motion Measuring Units km*d-1 Uncertainty Units km*d-1
3 instruments
Timeline for Sea-ice motion
Sea-ice surface temperatureTemperature of the surface of sea-ice - Physical unit: [ K ] - Accuracy unit: [ K ].
8 instruments
Timeline for Sea-ice surface temperature
Sea-ice thicknessThickness of the ice sheet - related to sea-ice elevation and density - Physical unit [ cm ], Accuracy unit [ cm ]
15 instruments
Timeline for Sea-ice thickness
Sea-ice typeParameter 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.
22 instruments
Timeline for Sea-ice type