THE MODELING OF SEA-ICE MELT-WATER PONDS FOR THE HIGH ARCTIC USING ANAIRBORNE LINE SCAN CAMERA, AND APPLIED TO THE SATELLITE SPECIAL SENSOR MICROWAVE IMAGER (SSM/I)/

Melt-water ponds on sea ice in the Northeast Water Polynya (77-82 degr ees N, 1-18 degrees W) were mapped using a line scan camera (LSC) moun ted on a helicopter. Passive microwave satellite data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) were employed to analyse the temporal trend of radiances of shorefast ice for 1993 and sea ice during sixte en flights of the LSC (June-July). A simple, linear algorithm tailored to accommodate the summer ice regime, was developed. The LSC measurem ents of ice (50.9 +/- 12.5%), water and melt-water pond fractions comp ared very well with the SSM/I derived mean ice concentrations (50.9 +/ - 12.8%). The comparison resulted in a correlation coefficient of 0.95 3. Combining the LSC melt-water pond fraction data with other data ava ilable from the literature provided the basis to construct a second de gree polynomial function of a melt-water empirical model to correct th e under estimation of SSM/I derived sea ice concentration due to the e ffect of melt-water ponds.