Satellites can now Measure the Thickness of Ice Sheets all Year Long
Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2022 2:59 am
https://www.universetoday.com/157657/sa ... year-long/
Artificial intelligence can do more than paint planets as bowls of soup. It’s now helping researchers acquire better climate change data by teaching Earth observation satellites how to measure ice thickness in the Arctic year-round.
Satellites have been monitoring the Earth’s icy north pole for decades now, but the quality of these observations have long been seasonally dependent. In winter, when the ice is solid, cold, and dry, measurement techniques are simple and effective. But things get a lot more challenging in the summer, when melted ponds of water form on the icy surface. From space, these meltwater pools are highly reflective, blinding the satellites’ instruments, or making the pools appear to be the open ocean. In these conditions, satellites are unable to distinguish between seawater and melting ice.
In a new paper published in Nature last week, researchers describe how they were able to use artificial intelligence to overcome these limitations. Their work enabled the first ever year-round ice thickness record from a satellite.
Artificial intelligence can do more than paint planets as bowls of soup. It’s now helping researchers acquire better climate change data by teaching Earth observation satellites how to measure ice thickness in the Arctic year-round.
Satellites have been monitoring the Earth’s icy north pole for decades now, but the quality of these observations have long been seasonally dependent. In winter, when the ice is solid, cold, and dry, measurement techniques are simple and effective. But things get a lot more challenging in the summer, when melted ponds of water form on the icy surface. From space, these meltwater pools are highly reflective, blinding the satellites’ instruments, or making the pools appear to be the open ocean. In these conditions, satellites are unable to distinguish between seawater and melting ice.
In a new paper published in Nature last week, researchers describe how they were able to use artificial intelligence to overcome these limitations. Their work enabled the first ever year-round ice thickness record from a satellite.