Arctic sea ice drift from wavelet analysis of NSCAT and special sensor microwave imager data

Wavelet analysis of NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) backscatter and DMSP special sensor microwave imager (SSM/I) radiance data can be used to obtain daily sea ice drift information for the Arctic region. This technique provides im proved spatial coverage over the existing array of Arctic Ocean buoys and b etter temporal resolution over techniques utilizing data from satellite syn thetic aperture radars. Comparisons with ice motion derived from ocean buoy s give good quantitative agreement. Both comparison results from NSCAT and SSM/I are compatible, and the results from NSCAT can definitely complement that from SSM/I when there are cloud or surface effects. Then, three sea ic e drift daily results from NSCAT, SSM/I, and buoy data can be merged as a c omposite map by some data fusion techniques. The ice flow streamlines are h ighly correlated with surface air pressure contours. Examples of derived ic e drift maps in December 1996 illustrate large-scale circulation reversals over a period of 4 days. These calibrated/validated results indicate that N SCAT, SSM/I merged daily ice motions are suitably accurate to identify and closely locate sea ice processes and to improve our current knowledge of se a ice drift and related processes through the data assimilation of ocean-ic e numerical model.