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New insights into radiative transfer within sea ice derived from autonomous optical propagation measurements
- Source :
- EPIC3The Cryosphere, The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 183-198 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Copernicus GmbH, 2021.
-
Abstract
- The radiative transfer of shortwave solar radiation through the sea ice cover of the polar oceans is a crucial aspect of energy partitioning at the atmosphere–ice–ocean interface. A detailed understanding of how sunlight is reflected and transmitted by the sea ice cover is needed for an accurate representation of critical processes in climate and ecosystem models, such as the ice–albedo feedback. Due to the challenges associated with ice internal measurements, most information about radiative transfer in sea ice has been gained by optical measurements above and below the sea ice. To improve our understanding of radiative transfer processes within the ice itself, we developed a new kind of instrument equipped with a number of multispectral light sensors that can be frozen into the ice. A first prototype consisting of a 2.3 m long chain of 48 sideward planar irradiance sensors with a vertical spacing of 0.05 m was deployed at the geographic North Pole in late August 2018, providing autonomous, vertically resolved light measurements within the ice cover during the autumn season. Here we present the first results of this instrument, discuss the advantages and application of the prototype, and provide first new insights into the spatiotemporal aspect of radiative transfer within the sea ice itself. In particular, we investigate how measured attenuation coefficients relate to the optical properties of the ice pack and show that sideward planar irradiance measurements are equivalent to measurements of total scalar irradiance.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
medicine.medical_treatment
Multispectral image
Irradiance
01 natural sciences
Physics::Geophysics
Radiative transfer
medicine
Sea ice
Ice pack
lcsh:Environmental sciences
Physics::Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Earth-Surface Processes
Water Science and Technology
Remote sensing
lcsh:GE1-350
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Attenuation
lcsh:QE1-996.5
Scalar (physics)
lcsh:Geology
13. Climate action
Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Shortwave
Geology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19940424
- Volume :
- 15
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Cryosphere
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....df82f7d454bc5f82ee52ce2ec9448385