TOWARDS THE RETRIEVAL OF LAKE ICE THICKNESS FROM SATELLITE ALTIMETRY MISSIONS (LIAM)
Summary
Lake ice thickness (LIT) is a thematic variable of Lakes as an Essential Climate Variable (ECV) of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). However, ground-based measurements of lake ice thickness are sparse in both space and time, and the number of sites where such measurements are made has dramatically decreased over the last two to three decades in many northern countries. In light of this and in support of GCOS, there is an urgent need to develop ice thickness products from satellite observations. Altimetry missions can play an important role in this respect, allowing for systematic measurements of ice thickness for many lakes of the globe.
The objective of this project, known under the acronym of LIAM (Lake Ice from Altimetry Missions), was to investigate the impact of LIT as well as other lake ice and overlying snow properties on brightness temperature and radar backscatter measurements, including conventional altimetry waveforms, from satellite altimetry missions. The project involved multifrequency sensitivity experiments using the Snow Microwave Radiative Transfer (SMRT) model coupled to a thermodynamics lake ice model. Forward simulations performed with SMRT were also compared to satellite measurements.
Project team
H2O Geomatics Inc.
(Prime), Canada
Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE), Université Grenoble Alpes, France
EOLA,
France
Presentations and publications
Zakharova E., K. Nielsen, A. Kouraev, P. Thorne, I. Krylenko, S. Biancamaria, C. Duguay, M. Restano, and J. Benveniste, 2023. Altimetry for hydrology of Arctic rivers. HYDROSPACE 2023 - The Fifth Space for Hydrology Workshop, Lisbon, Portugal, 27 November-1 December.
Duguay, C.R., J. Murfitt, G. Picard, E.A. Zakharova, M. Restano, and J. Benveniste, 2023. Forward simulations of radar backscatter and brightness temperature from lake ice, and comparison with measurements from satellite altimetry missions. 28th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG 2023), Berlin, Germany, 11-20 July.
Duguay, C.R., G. Picard, E.A. Zakharova, J. Murfitt, M. Restano, and J. Benveniste, 2022. Sensitivity of Sentinel-3 and Jason-2/3 radar altimetry and microwave radiometry measurements to variable ice and snow properties on large northern lakes. 7th Sentinel-3 Validation Team Meeting, Frascati, Italy, 18-20 October.
Duguay, C.R., G. Picard, E.A. Zakharova, J. Murfitt, M. Restano, and J. Benveniste, 2022. Impact of varying snow and ice properties of northern lakes on backscatter and brightness temperature measurements from altimetry missions: Results from the ESA LIAM project. ESA Living Planet Symposium, Bonn, Germany, 23-27 May.
Zakharova E., A. Kouraev, C. Duguay, S. Agafonova, N. Frolova, G. Picard, and J. Murfitt, 2022. Satellite observation of freshwater ice: from physics to people’s safety. ESA Living Planet Symposium, Bonn, Germany, 23-27 May.
Picard, G., F. Larue, J. Aublanc, P. Thibaut, M. Sandells, H. Löwe, J. Murfitt, and C. Duguay, 2021. The new altimetric module in Snow Microwave Radiative Transfer Model for snow (SMRT). CryoSat 10th Anniversary Science Conference, 14-17 June.
Duguay, C.R., G. Picard, E.A. Zakharova, J. Murfitt, M. Restano, and J. Benveniste, 2021. Investigating the impact of ice and snow properties on the estimation of lake ice thickness from altimetry missions. HYDROSPACE-GEOGloWS 2021 - Inland Water Storage and Runoff: Modeling, In Situ Data and Remote Sensing, 7-11 June. Virtual event.
Picard, G., F. Larue, J. Aublanc, P. Thibaut, M. Sandells, H. Löwe, J. Murfitt, and C. Duguay, 2021. The new altimetric module in Snow Microwave Transfer Model for snow (SMRT). DUAL-CRYO - Workshop on Dual-Band Altimetry of the Cryosphere, 13-14 January. Online workshop.
Zakharova, E., S. Agafonova, C. Duguay, N. Frolova, and A. Kouraev, 2021. River ice phenology and thickness from satellite altimetry. Potential for climate studies and ice bridge road operation. The Cryosphere, 15: 5387-5407, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5387-2021.
Duguay, C.R., G. Picard, E.A. Zakharova, J. Murfitt, M. Restano, and J. Benveniste, 2020. Sensitivity of backscatter and brightness temperature measurements from satellite radar altimetry missions to lake ice thickness. AGU 2020 Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, 1-17 December. Virtual event.
Zakharova, E., S. Agaphonova, C. Duguay, N. Frolova, and A. Kouraev, 2020. River ice monitoring using radar altimetry. Earth Observation for Water Cycle Science 2020, Versailles, France, 16-18 November. Virtual event.