DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15588787
title: Sea ice bulk density estimates during the MOSAiC freezing season from October 2019 to April 2020

description: MOSAiC: the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition.

Assuming hydrostatic equilibrium, we integrated and adjusted sea ice thickness and snow depth data from an IMB array (comprising 15 buoys), high-resolution along-track freeboard data from airborne laser scanning (ALS) and the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) measurements, as well as snow bulk density data from snow pits, to estimate the ice bulk density (IBD) within the MOSAiC DN (defined as the area within 50 km of Polarstern) during the MOSAiC freezing season from late October 2019 to late April 2020 (Regional buoy sites). Additionally, we also provided core-based IBD data from the MOSAiC Main Coring Sites (MCS), derived using the weighing method (MCS-FYI and MCS-SYI). Due to the challenges in reconciling spatially non-overlapping observations, we implemented two alternative approaches—Regional Case 1 and Regional Case 2—to further upscale the hydrostatic equilibrium-based IBD retrievals within the MOSAiC DN.  

Variable Details:

Note that all density results are in kilograms per cubic metre.



[Time]: covering the period from 5 October 2019 to 30 April 2020 in the format yyyyMMdd.

[Longitude] & [Latitude]: characterizing the daily position for the MOSAiC Central Observatory (CO).


 



[Reg_buoy_DN]: Estimated mean sea ice bulk density at the buoy siteswithin a radius of ~50 km from CO (DN scale).

[Reg_buoy_DN_Unc1]: Uncertainty of [Reg_buoy_DN] resulting from the input parameters, calculated using the Gaussian error propagation method.

[Reg_buoy_DN_Unc2]: Uncertainty of [Reg_buoy_DN] resulting from the introduced empirical adjustment coefficient, characterised using the mean absolute difference of multiple freeboard estimates.


 



[Reg_buoy_Lsite]: Estimated mean sea ice bulk density at the buoy sites within a radius of ~25 km from CO (Lsite scale).

[Reg_buoy_Lsite_Unc1]: Uncertainty of [Reg_buoy_Lsite] resulting from the input parameters, calculated using the Gaussian error propagation method.

[Reg_buoy_Lsite_Unc2]: Uncertainty of [Reg_buoy_Lsite] resulting from the introduced empirical adjustment coefficient, characterized using the mean absolute difference of multiple freeboard estimates.


 



[Reg_buoy_DL]: Mean value of [Reg_buoy_DN] and [Reg_buoy_Lsite], representing regional buoy estimates of IBD within the MOSAiC DN.

[Reg_buoy_DL_Unc1]: Uncertainty of [Reg_buoy_DL] resulting from the input parameters, calculated using the Gaussian error propagation method.

[Reg_buoy_DL_Unc2]: Uncertainty of [Reg_buoy_DL] resulting from the introduced empirical adjustment coefficient, characterized using the mean absolute difference of multiple freeboard estimates.


 



[Reg_case1_DN]: Mean IBD value for typical ice conditions at the DN scale, calculated using the integration of multi-source observations.

[Reg_case2_DN]: Mean IBD value for typical ice conditions at the DN scale, calculated using initial values from large-scale observations and trend extrapolation.


 



[Loc_MCS_FYI]: Local-scale core-based bulk density derived from the main first-year coring sites (MCS-FYI) during MOSAiC.

[Loc_MCS_SYI]: Local-scale core-based bulk density derived from the main second-year coring sites (MCS-SYI) during MOSAiC.

The density of these ice cores was measured in a freezing laboratory at an ambient temperature of –15 °C using the hydrostatic weighing method, achieving a relatively low uncertainty of only 0.2% (Pustogvar and Kulyakhtin, 2016).

Pustogvar, A. and Kulyakhtin, A.: Sea ice density measurements. Methods and uncertainties, Cold Regions Science and Technology, 131, 46-52, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2016.09.001, 2016.


 

Relevant datasets:

Sea ice mass balance buoys (IMBs): sea ice thickness and snow depth



SIMBA buoy measurements are available from PANGAEA: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.938244.

SIMB buoy measurements are available from the Arctic Data Center: https://doi.org/10.18739/A20Z70Z01.

Lei, R., Cheng, B., Hoppmann, M., and Zuo, G.: Snow depth and sea ice thickness derived from the measurements of SIMBA buoys deployed in the Arctic Ocean during the Legs 1a, 1, and 3 of the MOSAiC campaign in 2019-2020, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.938244, 2021.

Perovich, D., Raphael, I., Moore, R., Clemens-Sewall, D., Polashenski, C., and Planck, C.: Measurements of ice mass balance and temperature from autonomous Seasonal Ice Mass Balance buoys in the Arctic Ocean, 2019-2020, Arctic Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.18739/A20Z70Z01, 2022.


 

Airborne laser scanning (ALS): sea ice total freeboard (sea ice freeboard + snow depth)



Airborne laser scanning measurements during MOSAiC are available from PANGAEA: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.950896.

Hutter, N., Hendricks, S., Jutila, A., Birnbaum, G., von Albedyll, L., Ricker, R., and Haas, C.: Gridded segments of sea-ice or snow surface elevation and freeboard from helicopter-borne laser scanner during the MOSAiC expedition, version 1. PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.950339, 2023.


 

Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2): sea ice total freeboard (sea ice freeboard + snow depth)



ICESat-2 ATL10 total freeboard data (version 6, latest version) are available from NSIDC: https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL10.006.

Kwok, R., Petty, A., Cunningham, G., Markus, T., Hancock, D., Ivanoff, A., Wimert, J., Bagnardi, M., and Kurtz, N.: ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Sea Ice Freeboard, Version 6, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL10.006, 2023. 


 

Snow pits: snow density



Snow pit data collected during the MOSAiC expedition are available from PANGAEA: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940214.

Macfarlane, A. R., Schneebeli, M., Dadic, R., Wagner, D. N., Arndt, S., Clemens-Sewall, D., Hämmerle, S., Hannula, H.-R., Jaggi, M., Kolabutin, N., Krampe, D., Lehning, M., Matero, I., Nicolaus, M., Oggier, M., Pirazzini, R., Polashenski, C., Raphael, I., Regnery, J., Shimanchuck, E., Smith, M. M., and Tavri, A.: Snowpit snow density cutter profiles measured during the MOSAiC expedition, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.940214, 2022.


 

Transects: sea ice thickness and snow depth



Transect data collected during MOSAiC are available from PANGAEA: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.937781.

Itkin, P., Webster, M., Hendricks, S., Oggier, M., Jaggi, M., Ricker, R., Arndt, S., Divine, D. V., von Albedyll, L., Raphael, I., Rohde, J., and Liston, G. E.: Magnaprobe snow and melt pond depth measurements from the 2019-2020 MOSAiC expedition. PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.937781, 2021.


 

Ice cores: sea ice density



Ice core data collected from the MOSAiC Main Coring Sites are available from PANGAEA: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.956732 (MCS-FYI) and https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.959830 (MCS-SYI).

Oggier, M., Salganik, E., Whitmore, L., Fong, A. A., Hoppe, C. J. M., Rember, R., Høyland, K. V., Divine, D. V., Gradinger, R., Fons, S. W., Abrahamsson, K., Aguilar-Islas, A. M., Angelopoulos, M., Arndt, S., Balmonte, J. P., Bozzato, D., Bowman, J. S., Castellani, G., Chamberlain, E., Creamean, J., D'Angelo, A., Damm, E., Dumitrascu, A., Eggers, S. L., Gardner, J., Grosfeld, L., Haapala, J., Immerz, A., Kolabutin, N., Lange, B. A., Lei, R., Marsay, C. M., Maus, S., Müller, O., Olsen, L. M., Nuibom, A., Ren, J., Rinke, A., Sheikin, I., Shimanchuk, E., Snoeijs-Leijonmalm, P., Spahic, S., Stefels, J., Torres-Valdés, S., Torstensson, A., Ulfsbo, A., Verdugo, J., Vortkamp, M., Wang, L., Webster, M., Wischnewski, L., and Granskog, M. A.: First-year sea-ice salinity, temperature, density, oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition from the main coring site (MCS-FYI) during MOSAiC legs 1 to 4 in 2019/2020. PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.956732, 2023.

Oggier, M., Salganik, E., Whitmore, L., Fong, A. A., Hoppe, C. J. M., Rember, R., Høyland, K. V., Gradinger, R., Divine, D. V., Fons, S. W., Abrahamsson, K., Aguilar-Islas, A. M., Angelopoulos, M., Arndt, S., Balmonte, J. P., Bozzato, D., Bowman, J. S., Castellani, G., Chamberlain, E., Creamean, J., D'Angelo, A., Damm, E., Dumitrascu, A., Eggers, L., Gardner, J., Grosfeld, L., Haapala, J., Immerz, A., Kolabutin, N., Lange, B. A., Lei, R., Marsay, C. M., Maus, S., Olsen, L. M., Müller, O., Nuibom, A., Ren, J., Rinke, A., Sheikin, I., Shimanchuk, E., Snoeijs-Leijonmalm, P., Spahic, S., Stefels, J., Torres-Valdés, S., Torstensson, A., Ulfsbo, A., Verdugo, J., Vortkamp, M., Wang, L., Webster, M., Wischnewski, L., and Granskog, M. A.: Second-year sea-ice salinity, temperature, density, oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition from the main coring site (MCS-SYI) during MOSAiC legs 1 to 4 in 2019/2020. PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.959830, 2023.