Work

Estimating Antarctic surface melt rates using passive microwave data calibrated with weather station observations

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: . We present a dataset of Antarctic annual surface melt rates (6.25 km resolution, 2012–2021) from 19 GHz Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS). First, melt occurrence is detected via thresholds for brightness temperature, diurnal variation, and winter anomaly, calibrated with Automatic Weather Station (AWS) data. Second, AWS-driven surface energy balance modeling yields an empirical relation between annual melt days and water-equivalent melt volume. SSMIS-derived melt volumes show good agreement with AWS-based melt estimates (R2 = 0.83). Compared to QuikSCAT and RACMO2.4 outputs, SSMIS captures a similar spatial melt pattern but estimates a total melt volume approximately 15 % lower than RACMO, on the decadal average.

Source: The cryosphere

DOI: 10.5194/tc-20-87-2026

Authors: Valeria Di Biase, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Bert Wouters, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Maurice van Tiggelen

Institutions: Utrecht University, Delft University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Cryospheric studies and observations

Subfield: Atmospheric Science

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,574