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Ice cover variability in the Caspian and Aral seas from active and passive microwave satellite data |
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| Authors: | Alexei V. Kouraev Fabrice Papa Petr I. Buharizin Anny Cazenave Jean-Francois Cretaux Julia Dozortseva Frederique Remy |
| Affiliation: | A. V. Kouraev, F. Papa, A. Cazenave, J.-F. Cretaux &F. Remy, Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales, CNRS-CNES, 14 av. E. Belin, Toulouse, France;A. V. Kouraev, Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography, 119899 Vorobyevy gory, Moscow, Russia,;P. I. Buharizin, Astrakhan expedition base of the Water Problems Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Dept. of Engineering Ecology, uch. kor. 5, Tatisheva str., 414025 Astrakhan, Russia;J. Dozortseva, Hydrometeorological Centre of the Caspian Fleet, v/ch 59042, Molodezhniy pr., 8, 414000 Astrakhan, Russia. |
| Abstract: | The paper discusses time and space variations of ice extent in the Caspian and Aral seas during the last decade (1992-2002). It uses synergy of data from active (radar altimeter) and passive (radiometer) microwave nadir-looking instruments onboard the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. The proposed approach is substantiated and validated using both in situ and satellite imagery data for the Caspian Sea. The results indicate significant spatial and temporal variability of ice conditions, with a significant decrease of both the duration of ice season and ice extent during the last four winters (1998-2002). The TOPEX/Poseidon-derived time series of sea ice extent are very valuable in view of the fragmentary and mostly unpublished data on ice conditions on the Caspian and Aral seas since the mid-1980s. |
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