Temporal variability of polynyas from combined ERS and SSM/I investigations

A model describing wind-driven coastal polynyas and the effects of brine rejection on the local salinity field is compared to remote sensing data from ERS-1/2 and SSM/I. The ERS SAR browse image product is applied for animating the temporal and spatial extent of the polynyas and thereafter the precision image (PRI) product for high resolution studies of the identified polynyas. Daily averaged SSM/I sea ice concentration data derived from the NASA Team and the bootstrap algorithms are applied as secondary data for polynya identification. A comparison of these algorithms to the high resolution SAR shows significant differences. The ERS SAR images are shown to be important for verifying the numerical model and for understanding the polynyas´ development processes while the SSM/I has significantly less correlation with the numerical model and the SAR