Melt Season Length at Larsen-C from SSM/I

Project Description:

This class project will be to use passive microwave data to quantify melt season length along the Antarctic Peninsula. The goal is to assess changes in season duration throughout the last 20 years. The  project will especially focus on the Larsen C ice shelf, although the developed  method could also be applied to the rest of the antarctic coasts and ice shelves.

This project will be based on Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) data. The dataset is available through the services of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and can be downloaded from here. This dataset provides daily polar coverage since 1987 with 25km resolution on 19H, 19V, 22V, 37H, and 37V frequencies. While there is also higher resolution data available from this sensor (85 GHz or 91 GHz in H & V polarization  with 12.5km resolution), those frequencies will only tell us about melting that is much closer to the surface.

Student Leading the Project:

Andrew Johnson, University of Alaska Fairbanks

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