Author(s): Lijian Shi; Bin Cheng; Timo Vihma; Yu Liu; Qian Zhao
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: A high-resolution thermodynamic snow and ice model (HIGHTSI) was applied to investigate sea ice growth in the Bohai Sea in a basin scale. The atmospheric forcing for HIGHTSI was taken from the operational analyses and short-term forecasts of the European Centre for MediumRange Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The daily sea ice concentration (SIC) was used as an input for HIGHTSI. Two SIC products based on Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) data using the Artist Sea Ice (ASI) algorithm of the University of Bremen and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data using tie point method of National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center (NMEFC) were compared to each other. The HIGHTSI modeled ice thickness was compared with the in situ measurements from offshore oil/gas platforms. The calculated basin scale ice thickness was compared with the results from operational ice forecasts and ice thickness analyses based on SAR data. The operational ECMWF analyses in the Bohai Sea were in reasonable agreement with results from the operational PSU/NCAR mesoscale model (MM5) and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model that were utilized locally. The AMSR2 ice concentration was smaller than that of the MODIS product. The MODIS ice concentration showed less spatial variation compared with AMSR2 products. The HIGHTSI modeled ice thickness was comparable with point measurements, however, the large temporal variation of ice thickness due to ice drift was not captured. The basin scale seasonal thermodynamic ice thickness was comparable with the results from Bohai Sea in situ measurement in general. Compared to field measurements, the SAR& HIGHTSI based ice thickness analyses had a better accuracy and a higher spatial resolution than the ice thickness produced by the SAR data alone.
Year: 2014