Antarctic Sea Ice Thickness Measurements from Ship and Airborne Sensors

Antarctic field data compares sea-ice thickness measurements from ship-borne and airborne electromagnetic induction devices. The dataset includes laser altitude, system pitch and roll, conductivity, phase response, and calculated ice thickness and freeboard. Data was collected by AU_AADC as part of ASAC Project 1342 and last updated in 2002.

Use Cases

• Compare ICE THICKNESS estimates derived from COND (estimated depth to seawater) and LASER altitude readings.
• Analyze spatial patterns of SNOW THICKNESS and FREEBOARD across SITE locations using LATITUDE and LONGITUDE.
• Model sensor performance by correlating PHASE (in-phase response) with ICE THICKNESS under varying PITCH and ROLL conditions.
• Calculate Rho (apparent conductivity) from electrode spacing a and measured resistance R to assess subsurface properties.

Strengths

• Contains multiple physical measurements per observation, including LASER, COND, PHASE, PITCH, and ROLL.
• Includes derived geophysical parameters such as ICE THICKNESS, FREEBOARD, and Rho (apparent conductivity).
• Provides precise temporal coordinates with DAY (Julian day) and TIME (seconds after midnight UTC).

Limitations

• Sample size is unknown, potentially limiting statistical analysis.
• Data is temporally stale, last updated in 2002.
• Some columns like COND-A and PHASE-A are marked as not used, indicating incomplete utility.

Provenance

Source

AU_AADC as part of ASAC Project 1342.

Collection Method

Field measurements using IBEO PS100 infrared laser altimeter and Geonics EM31 electromagnetic induction device.

Geography

Antarctic region.