Snow-driven uncertainty in CryoSat-2-derived Antarctic sea ice thickness: insights from McMurdo Sound

The Cryosphere (2019)

We examine the usefulness of various snow products to provide snow depth information over Antarctic fast ice in McMurdo Sound using a high-resolution numerical snow accumulation model (SnowModel).

We compare this model to results from ECMWF ERA-Interim precipitation, EOS Aqua AMSR-E passive microwave snow depths and in situ measurements at the end of the 2011 sea ice growth season.

These datasets and in situ information are used to infer sea ice thickness in combination with CryoSat-2 (CS-2) freeboard data. Using an interpolated in situ snow dataset we find the best agreement between CS-2-derived and in situ thickness when this interface is assumed to be 0.07 m below the snow surface.