Monitoring of the Arctic Region Using Optical and Infrared Data from the Highly Elliptical Arktika-M Space System and Microwave Measurements from Low Earth Orbit Satellites

The specifics of the Arctic region necessitates extensive use of satellite remote sensing data to obtain operational and scientific information about the state and variability of surface and atmospheric characteristics. In February 2021 the Arctica-M spacecraft No. 1 with a multispectral scanning device MSU-GS for hydrometeorological support was launched into a highly elliptical orbit. The MSU-GS receives radiation of the Earth surface and clouds in the 3 visible and 7 infrared (IR) spectral bands [1]. The MSU is an operational source of data on dynamic processes in the environment with a temporal resolution of 15-30 minutes. When studying surface characteristics, however, a significant limitation is cloud cover, the probability of which in some areas of the Arctic reaches 80% and more [2]. For many applications, quantitative values of Arctic environment parameters are needed regardless of cloud cover and time of day (illumination). These include, for example, surface wind speed, sea surface temperature (SST), ice drift speed and direction, ice concentration, area of land ice melting zones, type and intensity of solid and liquid precipitation, cloud liquid water content, total atmospheric water vapor content, and other geophysical parameters. The source of information on these parameters are the data obtained by microwave scanning radiometers, scatterometers, and radars of various types from polar orbiting satellites of various countries. Examples of the joint analysis of data acquired from highly elliptical (HE) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are given in the present paper.