High temporal resolution estimations of the Arctic sea ice albedo during the melting and refreezing periods of the years 2003-2011

Methods for estimating seasonal and long term trends of the Arctic sea ice albedo are of growing importance to cryosphere and climate studies. Remote sensing of the sea ice albedo has hitherto been carried out using optical satellite instruments. However, the measured data is often insufficient in late summer and fall because of clouds and low solar elevations. Therefore, new methods are a prerequisite for realistic estimations for the global sea ice albedo over the whole melting–refreezing period. Here, we show that a new microwave based sea ice albedo estimation method alleviates problems of optical instruments, offering new albedo data especially during the refreezing periods even on a daily basis. In this study we present detailed weekly and daily albedo progress over the whole Arctic sea ice area from June to September for the period of 2003–2011, estimated using the microwave method.