Sub-kilometre scale distribution of snow depth on Arctic sea ice from Soviet drifting stations Journal of Glaciology

The sub-kilometre scale distribution of snow depth on Arctic sea ice impacts atmosphere-ice fluxes of energy and mass, and is of importance for satellite estimates of sea-ice thickness from both radar and lidar altimeters. While information about the mean of this distribution is increasingly available from modelling and remote sensing, the full distribution cannot yet be resolved. We analyse 33 539 snow depth measurements from 499 transects taken at Soviet drifting stations between 1955 and 1991 and derive a simple statistical distribution for snow depth over multi-year ice as a function of only the mean snow depth. We then evaluate this snow depth distribution against snow depth transects that span first-year ice to multiyear ice from the MOSAiC, SHEBA and AMSR-Ice field campaigns. Because the distribution can be generated using only the mean snow depth, it can be used in the downscaling of several existing snow depth products for use in flux modelling and altimetry studies.

北极海冰表层亚千米尺度（sub-kilometre scale）的雪深分布，既会影响大气与海冰间的能量和质量通量，也对基于雷达高度计（radar altimeters）与激光雷达高度计（lidar altimeters）开展海冰厚度卫星反演的工作具有重要意义。尽管当前通过建模与遥感手段已可愈发便捷地获取该分布的均值信息，但完整的雪深分布仍难以被精准解析。我们分析了1955年至1991年间苏联漂流站获取的499条雪深断面的33539组雪深观测数据，推导出仅以雪深均值为自变量的多年冰区雪深简易统计分布模型。随后，我们利用MOSAiC、SHEBA与AMSR-Ice野外考察中涵盖一年冰至多年冰的雪深断面数据，对该雪深分布模型开展验证评估。由于该分布仅需雪深均值即可生成，因此可用于多款现有雪深产品的降尺度（downscaling）处理，以服务于通量模拟与高度计相关研究。