Results of satellite and in-situ remote sensing measurement and modeling studies of Arctic sea ice which support the monitoring of changes in the global climate

Coordinated satellite, in situ monitoring, and theoretical modeling studies of Arctic sea ice have been supported by both the Office of Naval Research and the National Aeronautic and Space Administration over the last 2 decades. Application of the results from these efforts is being applied to the monitoring of changes in the global climate. Two geophysical parameters are now retrieved on an operational basis: the extent of ice covered waters, and the fraction of multiyear ice, first year ice and open water. Efforts are on-going to increase the number of ice type categories and to invert signal statistics (e.g., emission and backscatter) to ice thickness. Knowledge of the distribution of ice thickness is critical to improving the ability to directly measure a geophysical response in the polar regions due to small changes in the global climate