Sea ice characteristics during the Weddell Sea expedition explored by geophysical and remote sensing methods

The 2019 Weddell Sea expedition provided a unique opportunity for geophysical and glaciological sea ice measurements in one of the least accessible regions of the Southern Ocean. Although the extent and area of sea ice is well known based on satellite measurements, the limited information on thickness does still hinder the calculation of trends trends in volume and mass. Sea ice thickness is therefore one of the missing key variables in the global cryosphere mass balance, and difficult logistics are a challenge for near synchronous satellite validation measurements. Another key variable in this context is snow on sea ice, as knowledge of snow is required to convert satellite-derived freeboard to thickness.

We measured the sea-ice morphology by a combination of on ice and remote sensing methods: near-synchronous temporal and spatial measurements from a drone equipped with a radar sensor and camera, manually-derived on-ice surveys and samples such as snow pits, snow-depth transects and drill holes, and a AUV with upward-looking multibeam sonars. We also deployed ice-drifter buoys on several ice floes which we used to provide floe drift over an extended period of time.

In this contribution we present the results of our observations in conjunction with a close sequence of high resolution satellite radar images (TerraSAR-X, Sentinel-1) and altimeter data (ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2) to characterise the sea ice conditions in the western Weddell Sea. We found a mixture of fragments of deformed first-year and multi-year sea-ice which was consolidated in larger ice floes. A thick snow cover frequently depressed the ice cover of the thinner first year ice below sea level. Satellite data allow to extend our findings in time to a larger area and to improve our information on sea ice over a larger region.