Antarctic AMSR-E Sea Ice (AASI)

AASI is a flight experiment dedicated to using microwave remote sensing over the Antarctic to gather much needed data on the seasonal and inter-annual changes in Antarctic sea ice. Aircraft data are needed because they provide intermediate resolution and spatial coverage that enables accurate interpretation of data from the Advanced Microwave Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) instrument, which flies on the Aqua satellite. The strategy is to obtain passive microwave data in conjunction with simultaneous visible, infrared, and ship in situ data to assess the real physical characteristics of the ice cover.

Significant improvements have been made in the characterization of the sea ice cover as instruments evolved from the single channel Electronically Scanned Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) system, through the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) system, and currently, the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) system, over a period of almost three decades. The advent of AMSR-E is expected to provide a big advance in capability not only in resolution but also in accuracy due to the availability of more frequency channels.

Accurate and consistent data on sea ice cover are needed to fulfill some of the goals of NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise, such as improving and verifying global circulation models through study of polar regions and to gain insight into the changing global climate as reflected in the Antarctic. For process studies, it is important to detect and quantify the small but physically significant changes in the physical characteristics of the ice cover.

Contacts:

Joey Comiso
Principal Investigator
Goddard Space Flight Center
comiso@joey.gsfc.nasa.gov

Elena Lobl
Validation Coordinator
Marshall Space Flight Center
elena.lobl@msfc.nasa.gov

Science Goals:

• Assess the accuracy of the standard sea ice products derived from AMSR-E through comparative analysis with those derived from aircraft data.
• Test the effectiveness of the tie-points that are currently used by the algorithms as reference brightness temperatures for 100% ice cover and open water.
• Evaluate the spatial variability of the emissivity and temperature of sea ice to fully assess how accurately sea ice parameters can be potentially derived.
• Gather data to help improve and verify global circulation models.
• Gain insights into the changing global climate as reflected in the polar regions.
• Determine how accurately and consistently the location of ice edges is quantified to improve the interpretation of historical passive microwave data.

Partners:

NASA researchers will work in close collaboration with scientists from the NOAA Environmental Research Laboratory, CIRES at the University of Colorado, the Antarctic CRC-University of Tasmania, the Lamont Earth Observatory of Columbia University and Chiba University’s Center for Environmental Remote Sensing.

When:

September 1-17, 2004

Where:

Scientists will make measurements during flights from Chile to the Antarctic. Microwave radiometer, physical and environmental measurements will also be taken by researchers on ship, to provide ground in situ data.

Links:

Mission Site:

http://aasi-campaign.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Background Websites:

Climate Clues in the Ice

For information about AMSR-E:

http://eosdatainfo.gsfc.nasa.gov/eosdata/aqua/amsr-e/amsr-e.html

For information about ESMR:

http://eosdata.gsfc.nasa.gov/CAMPAIGN_DOCS/TOGA/esmr.html

For information about SMMR:

http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/CAMPAIGN_DOCS/FTP_SITE/INT_DIS/readmes/ice.html