Validation of ICESat-2 satellite with hydrographic measurements derived from SIZRS flights

Shawn Glenn Gallaher, US Naval Academy, Oceanography, Annapolis, MD, United States, James Morison, Polar Science Center, Seattle, WA, United States, Ron Kwok, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States and Roger Andersen, University of Washington, Polar Science Center - Applied Physics Lab, Seattle, WA, United States
Abstract:
The Seasonal Ice Zone Reconnaissance Surveys (SIZRS) are a series of ocean, ice, and atmospheric measurements across the Beaufort-Chukchi Sea seasonal sea ice zone utilizing expendable ocean probes dropped from U.S. Coast Guard Arctic Domain Awareness C-130 flights of opportunity. The program conducts repeat measurements along the 150°W meridian during the summer melt season to capture the rate of retreat and characterize air-ice-ocean properties of the Western Arctic seasonal ice zone. The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) is a NASA satellite mission to measure a broad-range of Earth’s surfaces including near-pole ice sheets and sea ice. ICESat-2 deploys an Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), a light detection and ranging laser (LIDAR) system to survey the Earth’s topography with unprecedented accuracy. In this study, we focus on validating newly released ICESat-2 ATLAS photon counting LIDAR altimetry with SIZRS derived dynamic ocean topography. Successful validation of this new remote sensing capability is essential and will provide high latitude researchers important information about the evolution of pan-arctic ocean circulations.
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