Antarctic sea-ice extents and concentrations: comparison of satellite and ship measurements from International Polar Year cruises

Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt) ship-based ice observations, conducted during the Sea Ice Mass Balance in the Antarctic (SIMBA) and Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment (SIPEX) International Polar Year (IPY) cruises (September–October 2007), are used to validate remote-sensing measurements of ice extent and concentration. Observations include varied sea-ice types at and inside the ice edge of West (908 W) and East (1208 E) Antarctica. Time series of Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer–Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) ice extents and US National Ice Center (NIC) ice edges were obtained for the 2007–08 periods bracketing the period these cruises were conducted. A comparison between passive microwave satellite imagery and ASPeCt observations of sea-ice concentration during two cruises was also performed. In 908W regions, the concentrated pack ice indicated good correlation between ship observations and passive microwave estimates of the ice concentration (R2 = 0.80). In the marginal zone of West Antarctica and over nearly the entire sea-ice zone of East Antarctica, correlation dropped to R2 < 0.60. These findings are consistent with other studies comparing passive microwave and ship observations and further verify that the East Antarctic sea-ice zone is more marginal in character. There are significant ice-edge differences between AMSR-E and NIC between late November 2007 and early March 2008 such that the AMSR-E sea-ice extent estimate is 1–2106 km2 less than the NIC estimate.