Detection and study of the polar lows over the arctic sea ice edge

Polar lows (PLs), emerging over the sea ice edge, are studied using multisensor data information, surface analysis maps and reanalysis data. PLs over the Western (the Greenland, the Norwegian and the Barents Seas), and the Eastern (the Chukchi, the East Siberian and the Laptev Seas) parts of the Arctic are considered. It is shown that currently operating satellite instruments, taken separately, cannot provide means for PL confident detection. Whereas multisensor satellite data, including passive and active microwave data products along with infrared and visible measurements, analyzed simultaneously, provide an opportunity to monitor PLs, developed under most environmental conditions, including the vicinity to the sea ice edge. Geophysical parameters are retrieved from satellite passive microwave data with advanced algorithms. PLs are detected using the complex geo-informational system, making advantage from simultaneous analysis of different satellite and model data.