Observations of Arctic Sea Ice Leads and Open Water During the Microbiological-Ocean-Cloud Coupling in the High Arctic Campaign

The Microbiological-Ocean-Cloud Coupling in the High Arctic (MOCCHA) campaign was conducted during August-September 2018 to examine the coupling between the changing High Arctic surface and atmospheric composition, including the production of sea spray aerosols (SSA) from sea ice leads. Sentinel-1 satellite SAR data are used for observations of sea ice leads and open water where SSA may originate due to wind forcing. Results from selected Sentinel-1 SAR scenes show that sea ice leads and open water areas can be identified with co-polarized backscatter at larger incidence angles while water misclassification occurs at smaller incidence due to stronger surface scattering. In contrast, the cross-polarized backscatter remains low at low and high incidence angles. Melt on sea ice during the MOCCHA summertime can confound backscatter signatures that misidentify open sea water. Future analyses can be improved using SARs in synergy with other satellite sensors.