Microwave and physical properties of sea ice in the winter Marginal Ice Zone

Abstract

Surface‐based active and passive microwave measurements were made in conjunction with ice property measurements for several distinct ice types in the Fram Strait during March and April 1987. Synthetic aperture radar imagery downlinked from an aircraft was used to select study sites. The surface‐based radar scattering cross section and emissivity spectra generally support previously inferred qualitative relationships between ice types, exhibiting expected separation between young, first‐year and multiyear ice. Gradient ratios, calculated for both active and passive data, appear to allow clear separation of ice types when used jointly. Surface flooding of multiyear floes, resulting from excessive loading and perhaps wave action, causes both active and passive signatures to resemble those of first‐year ice. This effect could possibly cause estimates of ice type percentages in the marginal ice zone to be in error when derived from aircraft‐ or satellite‐borne sensors.