Sea Ice Thickness
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This data set is the airborne scanning LiDAR of a suite of different instruments deployed during the Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystems eXperiment (SIPEX) in 2007. Surveys have been flown over sea ice between 110-130 degrees E as part of the Australian Antarctic science project 2901. Public Summary for project 2901 This research will contribute to a large multi-disciplinary study of the physics and biology of the Antarctic sea ice zone in early Spring 2007. The physical characteristics of the sea ice will be directly measured using satellite-tracked drifting buoys, ice core analysis and drilled measurements, with detailed measurements of snow cover thickness and properties. Aircraft-based instrumentation will be used to expand our survey area beyond the ship's track and for remote sampling. The data collected will provide valuable ground-truthing for existing and future satellite missions and improve our understanding of the role of sea ice in the climate system. Project objectives: (i) to quantify the spatial variability in sea ice and snow cover properties over scales of metres to hundreds of kilometres in the region of 110-130 degrees E, in order to improve the accuracy of sea ice thickness estimates from satellite altimetry and polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. (ii) To determine the drift characteristics, and internal stress, of sea ice in the region 110-130 degrees E. (iii) To investigate the relationships between the physical sea ice environment and the structure of Southern Ocean ecosystems (joint with AAS Proposal 2767).