Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997

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Remote Sensing of Environment

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / r s e

Assessment and development of snowmelt retrieval algorithms over Antarctica from

K-band spaceborne brightness temperature (1979–2008)
M. Tedesco ⁎
City College of New York, CUNY, New York, NY, USA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Results from several previously published algorithms for wet snow detection in Antarctica from K-band
Received 7 September 2008 spaceborne brightness temperature are compared and evaluated vs. estimates of wet snow conditions from
Received in revised form 15 January 2009 ground measurements. In addition, a new physically-driven algorithm, in which the detectable liquid water
Accepted 17 January 2009
content is assumed constant, is proposed and assessed. All algorithms are also evaluated by analyzing their
results during collapses of ice shelves. Two algorithms are selected for deriving updated trends of melting
Keywords:
Antarctica
index (MI, the number of melting days times the area subject to melting) between 1979 and 2008 over the
Snowmelt whole Antarctica and at sub-continental scales. In the first algorithm wet snow is identified when brightness
Passive microwave temperature exceeds the mean of winter brightness temperature plus 30 K and the second is the new model-
based approach described here. Both negative and positive MI trends are obtained, depending on the
algorithm used. A high number of melting days (up to 100 days) are detected over the Wilkins ice shelf, the
Peninsula and the George VI ice shelf. Over East Antarctica, the West and Amery ice shelves are subject to
melting for a maximum of approximately 50 days. Positive trends of number of melting days are detected
over most of the West Antarctica, with peak values up to 1.2 days/year over the Larsen C ice shelf, 1.8 days/
year over the George VI ice shelf and 0.55 days/year over the Wilkins ice shelf area. The correlation between
MI values and December–January (DJ) averaged air/surface temperature over selected locations show values
ranging between ∼ 0.8 and ∼ 0.4. Results suggest that a 1 °C increase in the monthly averaged DJ air/surface
temperature corresponds to an average MI increase of approximately 2·106 × km2 × day.
© 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction to date) flying on different Defense Meteorological Program Satellites

Monitoring of Antarctica is crucial because of its major impact on
global climate circulation and Earth's energy budget. The extent of the
territory (∼14.4 million km2) and its harsh conditions do not favor the
collection of ground data. Only with the advent of sensors mounted on
space-borne satellites has it been possible to collect information on most
of the continent at large spatial scales and high temporal resolution.
Microwave sensors can provide near complete coverage of
Antarctica on a daily basis because of the large swath and of the
weak influence of clouds and atmosphere. Moreover, microwave data
can provide information on the sub-surface processes, allowing the
detection of melting eventually occurring below the top snow layer.
Another significant advantage of space-borne microwave sensors is
the extensive data record, starting in 1978 with the Scanning
Microwave Multichannel Radiometer (SMMR) through 1987 and
continuing with the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I, 1987–
⁎ The City College of New York, Dept. EAS, Marshak Building, Room J 106, 138th St.
and Convent Av., 10031, NYC, NY, USA.
E-mail address: mtedesco@sci.ccny.cuny.edu.
(DMSP) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer- EOS
(AMSR-E) flying on the NASA AQUA satellite (2002–to date).
Wet snow detection from passive microwave brightness tempera-
tures (Tb's) is possible because the presence of liquid water within the
snowpack (even in small amount) increases the imaginary part of
snow permittivity by several orders of magnitude, hence causing a
sudden and significant increase in the microwave brightness
temperature (Ulaby et al., 1986; Tedesco et al., 2006). Microwave Tb
increases until a saturation value is reached, when a further increase
in wetness does not produce a considerable increase in Tb. Besides
melting, other factors can be responsible for increasing snow Tb, such
as a decrease in grain size or an increase in snow temperature.
However the temporal scale at which the appearance of liquid water
affects Tb is much shorter than that of these other factors. In other
words, the presence of liquid water within the snowpack leaves a clear
(significant increase) and distinct (the increase occurs from one day to
another or even at shorter timescales) signature on passive microwave
observations. As an example, Fig. 1 shows 19.35 GHz, horizontal
polarization, SSM/I Tb measured over two distinct areas: one where
melting occurs during summer and another where no melting is
observed. The sudden and abrupt increase in Tb as a consequence of

0034-4257/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.rse.2009.01.009
980 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997
Fig. 1. 19.35 GHz, horizontal polarization, SSM/I brightness temperature measured over two areas: continuous line reports data measured over an area where melting occurs during
summer where dashed line and black dots refer to an area where no melting is occurring.
melting is clearly observable for the case when melting occurs,
contrarily to the case of no melting, where no such increase is present.
Space-borne passive microwave data have been used to detect
melting snow at large spatial scales and several approaches have been
applied over the Greenland ice sheet (e.g., Abdalati & Steffen, 1997;
Mote, Anderson, Kuivinen, & Rowe, 1993; Tedesco 2007), over sea ice
and over land (e.g., Hall et al., 1991; Ramage 2001). Drobot and
Anderson (2001) utilized temporal variations in horizontally polarized
18/19 GHz and 37 GHz passive microwave Tb's to identify snowmelt
onset over Arctic sea ice. Takala et al. (2008) proposed an algorithm
based on a self-organizing map (SOM) principal with the objective of
developing a robust and simple melt detection algorithm for opera-
tional use over land. Ramage and Isacks (2003) used vertically
polarized 37 GHz SSM/I data to derive the timing of snowmelt and
freeze-up for glaciers in the coast and St Elias Ranges of Alaska, U.S.A.,
and British Columbia, Canada. Apgar et al. (2007) derived onset of
snowmelt in the upper Yukon River basin from AMSE-E Tb's.
Wet snow over Antarctica has been mapped using space-borne
microwave radiometers (e.g., Aschraft & Long, 2006; Liu et al., 2005;
Tedesco et al., 2007; Torinesi et al., 2003). Major difficulties in
validating wet snow mapping algorithms over Antarctica are related
to the lack of ground measurements and the different spatial scales at
which (when available) ground and satellite data are collected. This is
a clear limitation whose consequences can be mitigated by studying
the outputs of the different approaches and by analyzing their
sensitivity to extreme events.
In this study, results derived from several wet snow mapping
algorithms based on passive microwave data are evaluated and their
outputs compared with occurrences of melt estimated from the
analysis of surface/air temperature recorded by automatic weather
stations. Wet snow is mapped according to the condition that Tb
values exceed a threshold value, Tc. This is dependent on both the
amount of liquid water content (LWC) and the dry snow Tb (Tedesco
et al., 2007). If, as happens in most of the algorithms in the literature,
the threshold is set directly at Tb threshold then the minimum value of
LWC to which the algorithm is sensitive is not constant. In this study, a
new physically-driven approach considering a fixed minimum LWC is
also proposed. The threshold value on Tb is computed as a function of
the dry snow Tb, using the outputs of a multi-layer electromagnetic
model. Outputs of the new algorithm are compared with those ob-
tained from approaches described in the literature, and with ground
measurements. All approaches are also evaluated within the context
of extreme events, such the collapse of ice shelves.
Finally, two algorithms are selected and used for deriving trends of
melting index (MI, the number of melting days multiplied by the area
subject to melting) over the whole continent and at a sub-continental
scale for the period 1979 through 2008. Results are discussed and the
correlation between MI and December–January monthly averaged
surface/air temperature identified to investigate the relationship
between satellite-derived and surface temperature trends.
2. Retrieval of melting snow from spaceborne microwave
sensors: Approaches
In this section the different literature approaches are summarized
and a new algorithm is proposed.
2.1. Literature approaches for wet snow mapping over Antarctica
Approaches for wet snow mapping over Antarctica can be divided
into two major types: edge-detection and threshold-based approaches.
The former (e.g., Liu et al., 2005) uses a combination of wavelet
transform of Tb, variance analysis, bimodal curve fitting and spatial
autocorrelation. This approach will be denoted with E-D (edge-
detection) hereafter. In threshold-based (T-B) approaches (e.g., Aschraft
& Long, 2006; Tedesco et al., 2007; Torinesi et al., 2003) wet snow is
assumed to occur when Tb values exceed a threshold value Tc. The way
Tc is derived characterizes the different T-B approaches, determining
their sensitivity to the minimum amount of LWC within the snowpack:
the lower Tc the higher the sensitivity to LWC (e.g., Fig. 1, Tedesco et al.,
2007). The formulas used for deriving Tc from the different algorithms
considered in this study are reported in the following.
In Aschraft and Long (2006),
Tc = Twinter Tα + Twet snow Tð1 − α Þ; ð1Þ
with Twinter and Twet_snow being, respectively, the winter (JJA) and wet
snow Tb (set to 273 K) and α being a mixing coefficient set to 0.47.
This value was derived assuming a wet layer of 4.7 cm and a LWC = 1%.
This approach will be denoted with ALA, thereafter.
In Torinesi et al. (2003),
Tc = Twinter + ΔT; ð2Þ
with ΔT = 3σ and σ being the winter Tb standard deviation. This
approach will be denoted with M + 3 s. A similar approach was
previously proposed by Zwally and Fiegles (1994) in which ΔT was set
to 30 K. This approach will be denoted with M + 30 K.
Finally, an approach using a fixed threshold Tb of 245 K will also be
considered (simply denoted with 245 K), to study the performance of a
fixed threshold value algorithm. The value of 245 K was derived from the
 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997
analysis of electromagnetic model output. It was defined as the threshold
value above which a further increase in LWC does not lead to a consi-
derable increase on Tb when LWC exceeds 1% (e.g., Tedesco et al., 2007).
As a reference, Fig. 2 shows maps of (a) mean winter 19.35 GHz,
horizontal Tb polarization and (b) relative standard deviation for the
season 1999–2000. It is important to note that, although the mean
value and standard deviation for each pixel might change from year to
year, (as a consequence of melting or precipitation, for example), a
consistent spatial pattern is observed when other years are consid-
ered: relatively low mean and standard deviation values in internal
areas and higher ones toward the coast and on the ice shelves.
Observed low values can be attributed, among other things, to low
accumulation and to the absence of melting.
2.2. New approach evaluated in this study
Building on Tedesco et al. (2007), a T-B approach with sensitivity to
a fixed LWC is proposed in this study. Similarly to Aschraft and Long
(2006), the thickness of the wet snow layer and LWC value are fixed
and the outputs of an electromagnetic model are used to derived Tc as
a function of winter Tb. However, while Tedesco et al. (2007) focus on
persistent melting (e.g., melting occurring for 3 days in a row or
lasting for one day and the successive night), here the goal is an
algorithm capable of detecting short-term melting events or melting
events with relatively low LWC values. The outputs of the Microwave
Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks (MEMLS, e.g. Matzler &
Wiesmann, 1999) are used to derive the coefficients of a linear
regression between the increment following the appearance of liquid
water, ΔT, and the initial (dry snow) Tb values while assuming a fixed
LWC value. Two cases are considered: the first assumes that
LWC = 0.1% and that the wet snow layer is 5 cm thick. The algorithm
using this approach will be denoted MEMLS1. Anticipating that the
LWC value selected might be too low (e.g., fluctuations of Tb values for
pixels when no melting occurs could be close in magnitude to the
increment in Tb), another case is also considered where the
LWC = 0.2% and the wet snow layer is still 5 cm thick (denoted as
MEMLS2).
To derive ΔT, MEMLS simulated Tb variations due to the appear-
ance of liquid water in the snowpack are fitted as a linear function of
the dry snow Tb values,
ΔT = ω + η · Twinter :
Multiple combinations of dry snow vertical profiles are used to
simulate Tb values that account for a wide spectrum of snow
Fig. 2. (a) Map of mean winter 19.35 GHz Tb [K], horizontal polarization, for the season 1999–2000 and (b) standard deviation.
981
conditions (e.g., ice layers) and generate a dense set of dry Tb values.
More specifically, snow density was assumed to range between 0.1
and 0.45 g/cm3, correlation length between 0.01 mm and 0.3 mm,
snow temperature between 230 K and 270 K. The depth of each layer
was kept fixed to 5 cm and the total thickness was set to 20 m. The
bottom layer was set to ice, with density of 0.917 g/cm3. This value
was also used to account for the presence of ice layers within the
snowpack. The computed coefficients for the linear regression are
ω = 58 Κ and η = −0.2 (R2 = 0.91) in the case of MEMLS1 and
ω = 128 Κ and η = −0.52 (R2 = 0.92) in the case of MEMLS2.
Note that the expression for Tc from Eq. (3) can be re-written as
follows:
Tc = Twinter + ω + η · Twinter = ð1 − ηÞTwinter + ω = γTwinter + ω
ð4Þ
which is similar to the formula used in the ALA approach, with γ = 0.8
and ω = 58Κ in the case of MEMLS1; γ = 0.48 and ω = 128Κ in the
case of MEMLS2. Note that MEMLS1 and MEMLS2 tend to produce Tc
values lower than those obtained with the ALA approach by −0.34⁎
Twinter + 89.4 K (MEMLS1) and − 0.02 ⁎ Twinter + 19.4 K (MEMLS2).
This translates into a Tc value computed with MEMLS1 (MEMLS2)
between 48.6 K (17 K) and 204 K (14.2 K) smaller than that of the ALA
approach, when considering, respectively, 120 K and 260 K as lower
and upper boundaries for Twinter. The lower Tc values derived with
MEMLS1 and MEMLS2 are the consequence of the choice on lowest
LWC values to which the algorithm is sensitive.
Maps of Tc values obtained with the different T-B algorithms are
reported in Fig. 3 (for the season 1999/2000). In general, the 245 K
algorithm has the highest Tc value, followed by the ALA algorithm
and then by MEMLS2. The M + 3 s algorithm provides the lowest Tc
values for inland areas but values similar to those generated by M
+ 30 K, MEMLS1 and MEMLS2 over coastal areas. This is, for the
most part, a consequence of small standard deviation values for
inland areas (see Fig. 2). The relatively lower threshold values
derived with M + 3 s might suggest melting when it is indeed not
occurring. This is confirmed by a pixel-based analysis reported in the
following sections.
3. Data
ð3Þ 3.1. Satellite data
Microwave data consist of horizontally polarized EASE Grid Tb at
K-band, measured between 1978 and 1987 by the Scanning
982 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997
Fig. 3. Maps of threshold values [K] as derived with the different approaches for the melting season 1999–2000: top left map corresponds to the 245 K algorithm, the top middle is
derived with the ALA, the top right with the M + 30 K, the bottom right with M + 3 s, and the bottom middle and left with, respectively, MEMLS2 and MEMLS1.
Microwave Multichannel Radiometer (SMMR, 18.7 GHz, Knowles et
al., 2002) and by the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager, (SSM/I, 1987–
to date, 19.35 GHz, Armstrong et al., 1994) flying on the Defense
Meteorological Program Satellites (DMSP) between 1987 and 1992
(F-13 satellite), 1992 and 1995 (F-11) and 1995–2008 (F13). The EASE-
Grid consists of a set of three equal-area projections: the Northern and
Southern Hemispheres (Lambert's equal-area, azimuthal) and full
global (cylindrical, equal-area). The Southern Hemisphere projection
is used in this study. The algorithms are applied to both ascending and
descending data in order to increase the sensitivity to the melting cycle
and to detect melting that might occur or persist at night. The choice of
horizontally polarized K-band Tb's is supported by the largest
difference between dry and wet snow conditions at this frequency
and polarization (e.g., Liu et al., 2006; Tedesco et al., 2007).
A major problem in reconstructing the melting history using
multiple sensors and satellites is that, as opposed to SSM/I, SMMR
data is available only every other day and that the SMMR swath is
smaller than that of SSM/I. As a consequence, for a given EASE Grid
cell, gaps exist in the SMMR Tb time series. Accounting for these gaps
is important for a consistent long-term (1979–2008) analysis. To this
aim, Tb values for the missing days are computed by linear inter-
polation from adjacent days. Plus, to account for the different sensors
calibration, SMMR, SSM/I F8 and SSM/I F13 data are converted into
SSM/I F11 values, following Liu et al. (2006).
3.2. Antarctica air/surface temperature data
As previously mentioned, the lack of ground measurements at
desirable spatial and temporal scales is a limiting factor for the
validation and evaluation of remote sensing results. When and where
available, ground measurements primarily report air/surface tem-
peratures, neglecting the measurements needed to solve surface
energy balance equations that calculate the snow/ice temperature.
Nevertheless, these are the only available measurements and are used
in the following to quantify the sensitivity of the different remote
sensing approaches to melting events and to study the correlation
between melting derived from passive microwave observations and
surface temperature trends.
Two different data sets of surface/air temperature are used. The
first consists of surface/air temperature measurements carried out by
automatic weather stations within the framework of the Antarctica
Automatic Weather Stations Project (http://uwamrc.ssec.wisc.edu/
aws.html). In particular, 3-hourly data is here used (available at ftp://
tstorm.ssec.wisc.edu/pub/aws/antrdr/). This data is preferred to the
existing 10 minute data as it has been manually corrected to remove
bad data where appropriate. Data is available starting in 1980 through
2002 with the data availability for each station depending on the year.
Of the 54 stations analyzed, the Uranus Glacier (71.43 S, 68.93 W,
780 m a.s.l., in the proximity of the George VI ice shelf) and Larsen Ice
Shelf (67.97 S, 60.55 W, 17 m a.s.l.) stations were selected as they are
the only stations where surface/air temperature exceeded 0 °C. The
temperatures chosen from the 3-hourly data and used for comparison
with remote sensing results were selected to best match the satellite
passing times.
The second data set consists of December–January monthly mean
derived surface/air temperature for nine Antarctic stations obtained
from http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/met/gjma/. This data will be used
to study the correlation between microwave derived melting and
the monthly averaged surface/air temperature, thereby evaluating the
potential for the use of satellite-based results as climate indicators.
 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997
The stations in consideration are (a) Casey (66°30′S, 16°95′E), (b) Davis
(68°35′S, 77°58′E), (c) Faraday/Vernadsky (65°15′S, 64°16′W), (d)
Halley (75°35′S, 26°30′W), (e) Mawson (67°36′S, 62°52′E), (f) Mirny
(66°33′S, 93°01′E), (g) Novolazarevskaya (70°46′S, 11°50′E), (h)
Rothera (67°34′S, 68°08′W), and (i) Syowa (69°00′22″S, 39°35′E). A
map with the stations locations is reported in Fig. 4.
4. Assessment and evaluation of approaches
4.1. Considerations on the different threshold values
In this section, threshold values derived by the various approaches
are discussed, focusing on one site where melting is occurring and
another where it is not. No ground measurements are available for
these two locations but this stage of the analysis is used to evaluate
whether some of the approaches might detect wet snow when it is not
occurring (false detection) and to perform a comparative analysis
between Tc values and the Tb time series. Fig. 5 shows two examples
relative to (a) dry and (b) wet snow pixels together with the threshold
values (horizontal lines) derived with the different approaches. In
the dry snow case (Fig. 5a), the value of standard deviation is ∼4 K
and therefore the relative increment on Tb computed with the M + 3 s
algorithm is ∼12 K. As the summer Tb increases, following the annual
surface temperature cycle, it exceeds the Tc value in the case of the
M + 3 s algorithm. Therefore the Tc value derived from the M + 3 s
algorithm might be too low as all the days where Tb is between 180
and 190 K would be classified as containing wet snow while a visual
analysis of the Tb temporal trend (e.g., the absence of a sudden and
abrupt increase on Tb) suggests the absence of melting. Also MEMLS1
tends to suggest melting where it is likely not happening, even though
this happens in fewer cases than M + 3 s. All remaining approaches do
not suggest melting. These results can be extended to those pixels
with relatively low Tb and small standard deviations (as
internal areas, see Fig. 2). As these areas are generally not subject to
melting, it might be possible to mask them from the analysis when
using the M + 3 s or MEMLS1 approach. However the use of such a
mask would not allow detection of sporadic or extreme melting events
within the masked areas.
Fig. 4. Location of the ground stations used in this study for the air/surface temperature analysis.
983
The plot in Fig. 5b refers to a pixel when melting starts on the
beginning of January and lasts until February 5th, 1996 to start again a
few days later and last for about a week. After these two major melting
events, sporadic melting is observed during the first two weeks of
March. The plot shows that the threshold value derived with MEMLS1
is the lowest one and indicates melting where it is likely not occurring
or where LWC is very low (note the peaks in Tb at the beginning of
November and December, 1995). This suggests that the minimum
wetness detected with MEMLS1 might also be mimicked by other
events (such as short-term Tb fluctuations) that induce similar Tb
variations. The M + 3 s, M + 30 K and MEMLS2 approaches provide
similar threshold values and the ALA approach suggests a threshold
value lower than 245 K but higher than that obtained with MEMLS2. It
is also interesting to note that the algorithm making use of the static
value of 245 K might tend to miss some of the melting events
occurring between mid December 1995 and mid January 1996, with
this period being characterized by Tb values very close to (but lower
than) 245 K. Contrarily, the ALA algorithm, with a threshold value of
232.14 K, is capable of detecting most of the persistent melting events
but it misses some sporadic melting events.
4.2. Evaluation of the approaches with ground-based measurements
Fig. 6 shows horizontally polarized 19.35 GHz SSM/I Tb's, for the
EASE grid cells including the ground stations of (a) Uranus Glacier
(71.43°S, 68.93°W, 780 m a.s.l., in proximity of the George VI ice shelf)
for the summer 1995–1996 and (b) Larsen Ice (66.97°S, 60.55°W, 17 m
a.s.l.) for the summer 1996–1997, on the Larsen C ice shelf. Surface
temperature data is also reported as a dashed line with dots.
For reader's convenience, the 273.15 K and algorithm derived
threshold values are also indicated as horizontal lines. The number
of melting days derived by each algorithm is as follows:
245 K = 11 days, M + 30 K = 77 days, M + 3 s = 84 days,
ALA = 31 days, MEMLS1 = 83 days, MEMLS2 = 65 days. The recorded
surface/air temperature exceeds 273.15 K for 4 days. However, the Tb
trend suggests that the number of days when snow is melting within
the EASE-grid cell is greater than 4 (from the sustained presence of
high Tb values). As previously pointed out, ground data is collected at
984 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997
Fig. 5. Tb [K] temporal trends for two pixels with one containing (a) dry and the other (b) wet snow. Threshold values derived from the different wet snow algorithms are also
reported as horizontal lines.
point scale whereas satellite data represents spatial scales on the
order of tens of kilometers. Moreover, the Uranus Glacier station is
located at 780 m a.s.l. and, therefore, melting within the 25 km
satellite cell grid can occur when the surface temperature measured
by the weather station is below 273.15 K, as areas at elevations lower
than that of the station might have a higher surface/air temperature.
Finally, melting can also occur when air temperature is below the
melting point as a consequence of the solar radiation. Indeed solar
radiation penetrates below the surface of the snowpack, with the
penetration depth being a function of snow parameters, and can
provide enough energy to melt the snowpack below its surface, even
though the top surface temperature is below the melting point (e.g.,
Liston & Winther, 2005). In order, to maximize the benefits from
ground air/surface temperature measurements, a new threshold value
(Th) on surface/air temperature is computed. This threshold can be
seen as the local measured surface/air temperature corresponding to
persistent melting within the satellite cell grid. It can be considered as
an estimator rather than an actual physical quantity associated to local
snow conditions, which can be used to maximize matching between
local and large spatial scale measurements. The value of Th is
computed as the surface/air temperature value when melting occurs
persistently for three days in a row for the first time, at the beginning of
the melting season. For example, in the case of the Uranus glacier
station for the 1995/1996 season, this happened on November 27th,
1995 and the threshold value (Th) on the temperature is 268.2K
(−4.95 °C). With this value, the number of melting days derived from
surface/air temperature is 67 days. This approach offers the possibility
of evaluating the performance of the algorithms as it tries to mitigate
the effect of point-scale ground measurements by identifying a
surface/air temperature which is representative of melting for the
whole area within the satellite's cell grid. However, this obviously
reduces the robustness of the evaluation of the performance of the
algorithms as the threshold value Th is strongly dependent by local
conditions, both in space and time. This is one of the reasons why this
approach should be considered an ‘evaluation’ of the approaches
rather than their validation. The analysis reported in Fig. 6 is extended
to the data of Uranus Glacier and Larsen Ice Shelf stations for the
melting seasons 1995/96 through the season 1998/1999. Table 1
reports the number of melting days derived with the different remote
sensing approaches and those obtained when considering that
surface/air temperature is either greater than 273.15 K (0 °C) or
greater than a threshold value Th, computed as described above. The
 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997 985

Fig. 6. 19.35 GHz, SSM/I Tb [K], horizontal polarization, of the EASE grid cells containing the ground stations of (a) Uranus Glacier for the summer 1995–1996 and (b) Larsen Ice for
the summer 1996 – 1997. Surface temperature data are reported as dashed line with dots. The line showing the 273.15 K value is reported together with the threshold values
computed with the different algorithms.

column NotAv indicates the number of days when surface/air
temperature was not available and the column Total indicates the
total number of days. Fig. 7 offers a graphical visualization of the
numerical results reported in Table 1, showing the relative percentage
difference between the number of melting days estimated from the
remote sensing approaches and those obtained from the surface/air
temperature analysis when the threshold value on the surface/air
temperature is set to (a) 0 °C or (b) to Th. Results show that all remote
sensing approaches tend to overestimate the number of melting days
derived from surface/air temperature analysis when the threshold is

Table 1
Number of melting days derived with the different approaches and from the surface temperature analysis when using 0 °C or the threshold value Th as thresholds for the two stations
of Uranus Glacier and Larsen Ice Shelf for the melting seasons starting in 1995 through 1999.

Case # Number of melting days

245 K M + 30 K M+3 s ALA MEMLS1 MEMLS2 Tsurf N 0 Tsurf N Th NotAv. Total Th
Uranus 1 95/96 9 74 79 29 78 63 4 67 109 216 − 4.95
2 96/97 8 58 73 41 65 53 7 63 50 216 − 4.95
3 97/98 16 78 92 52 84 73 16 93 11 216 − 5.45
4 98/99 7 58 77 35 62 51 14 61 91 216 − 3.05
Larsen 5 95/96 24 77 26 59 84 70 10 80 0 216 − 4.25
6 96/97 49 74 78 66 76 70 13 94 0 216 − 4.25
7 97/98 65 99 99 86 100 90 16 94 0 216 − 3.65
8 98/99 40 78 80 66 80 72 10 83 0 216 − 3.35

The column NotAv. indicates the number of days when surface temperature was not available. The column Total indicates the total number of days.
986 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997

Fig. 7. Relative percentage difference between the number of melting days estimated from the different remote sensing approaches and from the surface temperature analysis (e.g.,
(DSSM/I − DTSurf) / DTSurf) ⁎ 100) when the threshold value on the surface temperature is set to (a) 0 °C or (b) to Th. The numbers on the x-axis are the case numbers reported in Table 1.

set to 0 °C. As previously noted, this is likely a consequence of the fact
that melting is identified at the satellite cell grid scale even when
recorded surface/air temperature at a point scale is below 0 °C. When
using Th as a threshold value, results show that both the 245 K
and ALA approaches tend to underestimate the number of melting days
derived from the surface/air temperature analysis. Remaining
approaches show average absolute percentage values of 9.48 ± 5.1%
(M + 30 K), 19.32 ± 14.7% (M + 3 s), 8.13 ± 5.4% (MEMLS1) and 14.41 ±
3.6% (MEMLS2) where the value after the± symbol indicates half
standard deviation of the absolute percentage error. The approach
providing the lowest absolute average percentage difference (best case)
is MEMLS1, although M + 30 K also provides comparable results. Results
obtained with M + 3 s and MEMLS2 are very similar though MEMLS2
has a lower standard deviation.
The above results need further analysis as, for obvious reasons, it is
not desirable that melting is assumed to occur when it is not actually
happening. This error will be named ‘commission error’ to separate
it from the ‘omission error’, which is the error occurring when the
remote sensing approach is not detecting melting but air/surface
temperature measurements suggest the opposite. Table 2 shows the
commission error expressed in terms of number of melting days.
Values in the parentheses show the number of days when the commis-
sion error occurs expressed as a percentage of the total number of
melting days estimated by the air/surface temperature analysis. In
view of their high Tc values, the 245 K and ALA algorithms are char-
acterized by no, or very small commission errors. The M + 30 K and
MEMLS1 approaches show similar commission error values which,
in turn, are generally lower than those obtained with the M + 3 s

Table 2
Number of melting days detected by the different approaches but when surface temperature is not (commission error).

Station Case # Season 245 K M + 30 K M+3 s ALA MEMLS1 MEMLS2

Uranus 1 95/96 0 (0) 13 (19.4) 14 (20.9) 3 (4.5) 13 (19.4) 8 (12)
2 96/97 0 (0) 11 (17.4) 19 (30.1) 3 (4.7) 16 (25.4) 8 (12.7)
3 97/98 0 (0) 9 (9.7) 14 (15) 3 (3.2) 10 (10.7) 8 (8.6)
4 98/99 0 (0) 8 (13.1) 21 (34.4) 1 (1.6) 9 (14.7) 4 (6.6)
Larsen 5 95/96 0 (0) 12 (15) 1 (1.2) 2 (2.5) 17 (21.2) 6 (7.5)
6 96/97 2 (2.1) 7 (7.4) 9 (9.6) 3 (3.2) 7 (7.4) 5 (5.3)
7 97/98 1 (1) 11 (11.7) 11 (11.7) 4 (4.2) 11 (11.7) 5 (5.3)
8 98/99 1 (1.2) 7 (8.4) 7 (8.4) 5 (6) 7 (8.4) 5 (6)
Average 0.5 (0.5) 9.75 (12.8) 12 (16.4) 3 (3.8) 11.25 (14.9) 6.2 (8)

The values in the parentheses show the number of days when the commission error occurs as a percentage of the total number of melting days estimated by the surface temperature
analysis.
 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997 987

Fig. 8. (a,d) Average number of melting days for areas covering the Larsen B (a) and Wilkins (d) ice shelves as derived from the MEMLS2 (circles + cont. line), ALA (stars + dashed
line) and 245 K (squares + dash and dot line) for the period 1979–2008; (b,e) temporal trends of brightness temperatures for (b) the Larsen B ice shelf during the period January 1,
2000 and 31 December 2005 and (e) the Wilkins ice shelf for the period January 1, 2001 and April 1, 2008; (c,f) temporal trend of brightness temperature for the period when collapse
occurred for the (c) Larsen B and (f) Wilkins ice shelves.
988 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997

Fig. 8 (continued).

Fig. 9. Melting index (MI, defined as the number of melting days times the area subject to melting) for the period 1979–2008 for (a) the whole Antarctica and for the (b) Peninsula,
(c) Amery, (d) Dronning Maud Land, (e) Filchner, (f) Marie Byrd (g) Ross and (h) Wilkes areas when using either MEMLS2 (black line + square) or M + 30 K (gray line + circles)
approaches.
M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997 989
990 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997

Fig. 9 (continued).
 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997
Fig. 9 (continued).
approach. Low commission errors are obtained when considering the
MEMLS2 approach.
Summarizing, the results reported above suggest that the 245 K and
ALA algorithms tend, generally, to underestimate melting as derived
from the air/surface temperature analysis but also provide the lowest
commission error. Contrarily, the M + 3 s and MEMLS1 approaches
tend to provide the best match with results derived from air/surface
temperature analysis at the cost of overestimating melting. Results
reported in the previous section regarding the analysis of threshold
values from the different approaches over a dry snow area pixel have
shown that both M + 3 s and MEMLS1 algorithms might suggest
melting where it is actually not happening (e.g., internal ice sheet
areas). Finally, the outputs of the M + 30 K and MEMLS2 match
surface-derived melting while maintaining low commission errors.
4.3. Assessment of approaches with Larsen B and Wilkins ice shelves collapses
In this section the number of melting days derived from the different
approaches is computed in the case of two extreme events – collapses of
991
the Wilkins and the Larsen B ice shelves in 2008 and 2002, respectively.
Fig. 8(a to c) shows the number of melting days (left plots) as derived with
the 245 K, ALA and MEMLS2 algorithms. In the figure the time series of
19.35 GHz Tb, horizontal polarization, for multiple years is also reported in
the middle and that for the year when the collapse occurred is reported on
the bottom plots. The dashed-line square in the middle plots indicates the
period when the collapse occurred. According to MEMLS2, the collapse of
the Larsen B ice shelf was characterized by a peak in the number of melting
days (NMD), with melting during the 2001/2002 season lasting up to
about 50 days longer than the previous season and about 40 days above
the average of 80 days for the period 1979–2001. This is in agreement with
Van den Broeke (2005) and Sergienko and Macayeal (2005), who
reported extremely high NMD values (the same order of those computed
with MEMLS2) for the same period and area. After the collapse, the annual
NMD decreased abruptly, partially because of the disappearance of ice and
its replacement by ocean during summer time. Note that both ALA and
245 K approaches are not showing the peak in the NMD. This is mainly due
to the fact that, as shown in Fig. 8b and c, Tb values during the ice shelf
collapse period were lower than 245 K and generally lower than the
992 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997

Fig. 10. Maps of (a) 2008 number of melting days, (b) 1979–2008 average number of melting days, (c) 2008 melting days anomaly and (d) NMD trend values (1979–2008) using the
MEMLS2 approach.

corresponding values during melting in previous years. As a consequence,
both ALA and 245 K are missing the extreme melting that occurred during
the collapsing event.
Differently from the Larsen B case, no peak is observed in 2008 on
the Wilkins ice shelf before its collapse, and no NMD record was set. In
this case, the three algorithms show consistent patterns with the
245 K approach suggesting the smallest NMD and MEMLS2 suggesting
the highest NMD value. The number of melting days derived with
MEMLS2 is close to that derived from using QuikSCAT data for
detecting melting over the same area (Scambos, 2008; Steiner &
Tedesco, in prep.).
5. 1978–2008 updated melting trends and discussion
In this section, the results regarding the trend of melting as derived
when using the MEMLS2 and the M + 30 K algorithms are reported.

Fig. 11. MI values (in 106 · km2 × day) obtained with the MEMLS2 (black disk and dashed line) and with M + 30 K (white squares and cont. line) approaches vs. December–January
(DJ) monthly averaged surface temperature (°C) for the (a) Casey, (b) Davis, (c) Faraday/Vernadsky, (d) Halley, (e) Mawson, (f) Mirny, (g) Novolazarevskaya, (h) Rothera, and (i)
Syowa stations. The slope and coefficient of the linear regression are reported together with correlation coefficients and the lower and upper bounds for a 95% confidence interval for
the correlation coefficient.
M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997 993
994 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997

Fig. 11 (continued).
M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997 995

Fig. 11 (continued).
996 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997
These algorithms are selected as a consequence of the results reported
in the previous sections.
Fig. 9 shows the cumulative annual melting index (MI) for the period
1979–2008 for (a) the whole Antarctica and for the (b) Peninsula,
(c) Amery, (d) Dronning Maud Land, (e) Filchner, (f) Marie Byrd (g) Ross
and (h) Wilkes areas when using either MEMLS2 (black line+ square) or
M + 30 K (gray line + circles) approaches. A full description of these
areas is reported in Torinesi et al. (2003) or Tedesco et al. (2007).
The parameters of a linear regression analysis (MI = slope ⁎ year + coeff.)
are reported within each plot, together with correlation coefficients,
p-values and the lower and upper bounds for a 95% confidence
interval for the correlation coefficient. As SSM/I Tb's are missing
between day 337, 1987 and day 13, 1988, results for the 1987/1988
melting season are not included in the statistical analysis, though
they are shown in the figures. The analysis of p-values indicates that
only one of the trend inferences is statistically significant, because of
the large year-to-year fluctuations in MI. Generally, MI values
derived with MEMLS2 are slightly higher than those computed
with M + 30 K. According to MEMLS2, a positive inter-annual MI
trend (0.125 · 106 km2 × day / year) is derived over the whole
Antarctica (being − 0.177 · 106 km2 × day / year with the M + 30 K
algorithm). The only area with a statistical significant trends is Mary
Byrd Land when using MEMLS2 (Fig. 9, f). In this case a positive trend
is observed of 0.1485 · 106 km2 × day / year, the highest computed
among all areas.
The spatial distribution of the NMD and derived quantities is also
analyzed. Fig. 10 shows maps of (a) 2008 NMD, (b) the 1979–2008
average NMD, (c) NMD 2008 anomaly (2008 NMD minus the average
NMD for the period 1979–2007) and (d) the trends of NMD (1979–
2008), when using MEMLS2. Results obtained with M + 30 K show
similar patterns. Highest NMD and average NMD values are observed
over the Wilkins ice shelf and the Peninsula, with peak values of about
100 (Wilkins) and 91 (Peninsula) days. High NMD values (up to
79 days in 2008 and 85 days on the average) are also observed on the
George VI ice shelf. On the eastern side of Antarctica, the West and
Amery ice shelves show peak values up to 52 NMD in 2008 and the
Fimbul ice shelf is experiencing up to 37 NMD, also in 2008. Positive
2008 NMD anomalies (Fig. 10, c) up to about 5–10 days are observed in
2008 over most of the Peninsula and the Ronne ice shelf, but negative
anomalies are observed over the Wilkins ice shelf. Negative 2008
NMD anomalies are also found on the East part of the continent, down
to about - 20 days on many locations distributed along the coast.
Fig. 10 (d) shows that the trend of the NMD updated through 2008
over most of the West Antarctica is positive, with peak values up to
1.2 days/year over the Larsen C ice shelf and 1.8 days/year over the
George VI ice shelf. Interestingly, the Wilkins ice shelf area also shows
a positive trend of up to 0.55 days/year. On East Antarctica, both
negative and positive trends can be observed, even over the same ice
shelf, with no coherent spatial pattern.
In order, to investigate the correlation between MI values and
bimonthly averaged air/surface temperatures, MI values (expressed
in 106 km2 × day) are plotted vs. December–January (DJ) monthly
averaged air/surface temperatures in Fig. 11. Results are reported for the
stations of (a) Casey (Wilkes), (b) Davis (Amery), (c) Faraday/
Vernadsky (Peninsula), (d) Halley (Dronning), (e) Mawson (Amery),
(f) Mirny (Wilkes), (g) Novolazarevskaya (Dronning), (h) Rothera
(Peninsula), and (i) Syowa (Dronning). The slope and coefficient of the
linear regression are reported together with correlation coefficients and
the lower and upper bounds for a 95% confidence interval for the cor-
relation coefficient. Results derived from both MEMLS2 and M + 30K
algorithms are reported. Fig. 11 shows that MEMLS2 and M + 30K
provide similar correlation values (R). The coefficients derived from the
linear regression can be used to suggest the values of monthly average
air/surface temperature required for generating significant melting and
to compute the DJ average air/surface temperature at which melting
occurs. According to MEMLS2 (M + 30 K), a 1 °C increase in the monthly
averaged DJ air/surface temperature corresponds to a MI increase
between 0.94 (0.92) and 3.31 (3.49) · 106 × km2 × day, depending on the
area, with an average value of 2.18 (2.14) · 106 × km2 × day. These values
are consistent with Liu et al. (2006), who reported an increase between
2.58 and 6.13 × 106 × km2 × day (depending on the selected region), but
are smaller than those reported in Torinesi et al. (2003) of
9.53· 106 × km2 × day. In this case, it must be mentioned that the values
reported by Torinesi et al. (2003) are computed as the sum of the slopes
for the different areas where in this study values averaged over all
stations and areas are considered. The mean DJ temperatures at which
melting occur as derived from the linear regression analysis in the case
of MEMLS2 (M + 30 K) are −2.95 (−2.73) °C for Casey, −1.6
(−1.75) °C for Davis, −9.07 (−11.06) °C for Faraday/Vernadsky,
−7.2 (−7.3) °C for Halley, −2.65 (−2.65) °C for Mawson, −6.85
(−5.98) °C for Mirny, −2.12 (−2.08) °C for Novolazarevskaya, −4.27
(−5.69) °C for Rothera and −2.80 (−2.81) °C for Syowa stations. The
mean DJ temperature values in the case of the Faraday/Vernadsky and
the Davis stations appear to be too low. The causes of this are under
investigation using QuikSCAT data to study the spatial distribution of
melting at the SSM/I sub-pixel scale (Steiner and Tedesco, in
preparation). It is noted here that both Faraday/Vernadsky and Rothera
stations show low correlation values. Correlation values for the Mirny
and Halley stations are R ∼ 0.5–0.6. Remaining cases show correlation
values between 0.7 and 0.8.
6. Conclusions
Results of several algorithms reported in the literature for
snowmelt detection from space-borne passive microwave data at
K-band over Antarctica have been discussed and evaluated. The
algorithms classify snow as melting when Tb values exceed a
threshold value Tc. A new physically-driven algorithm, based on the
results of a multi-layer electromagnetic model, was introduced. Here,
the Tb threshold value is computed as a linear function of dry snow Tb
values, assuming a fixed minimum detectable liquid water content to
which the algorithm is sensitive. The outputs from all algorithms have
been compared with melting as suggested by the analysis of ground
measured air/surface temperature and have been analyzed for
selected areas during ice shelves collapses.
The algorithms using the mean winter Tb value plus three times
the standard deviation (M + 3 s) or the new algorithm assuming a
minimum amount of LWC of 0.1% within the top 5 cm of the
snowpack (MEMLS1) have the highest sensitivity to melting but at
the cost of overestimating melting and mapping wet snow where it
is not likely present (e.g., inland areas). The algorithm that uses
either a fixed threshold value of 245 K or that derives the threshold
value as a combination of wet and dry Tb's with dry coefficient being
0.47 and wet coefficient 0.53 (ALA) have the highest Tc values.
Opposed to M + 3 S and MEMLS1, the ALA and 245 K maintain the
lowest commission error but tend to underestimate melting. These
algorithms also fail to detect extreme melting events, such as those
related to the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf. The algorithms
considering the winter Tb mean plus a fixed value of 30 K (M + 30 K)
and the new algorithm assuming a LWC of 0.2% within the top 5 cm
of snow have shown good agreement with melting derived from air/
surface temperature analysis and sensitivity to extreme melting
events.
Based upon the assessment analysis, these last two algorithms
were selected for deriving trends through 2008 of melting index (MI)
over the whole continent and at sub-continental scale. According to
MEMLS2, a positive inter-annual MI trend (0.125 · 106 km2 × day /
year) is obtained over the whole Antarctica (−0.177 · 106 km2 × day /
year with the M + 30 K algorithm). However, the analysis of p-values
for the derived trends indicates that none of the trend inferences is
statistically significant, with the exception of the case of the Mary Byrd
Land area when using the MEMLS2 approach, when a positive trend is
 M. Tedesco / Remote Sensing of Environment 113 (2009) 979–997
derived. High values of the number of melting days have been iden-
tified over the Wilkins ice shelf, the Peninsula and the George VI ice
shelf, with peak values of about 100 (Wilkins), 91 (Peninsula) and
79 days (George VI) in 2008. Over East Antarctica, the algorithms
have reported peak values up to 52 days in 2008 over the West
and Amery ice shelves show and 37 days over the Fimbul ice shelf.
Positive anomalies of the number of melting days for 2008 (up to
about 5–10 days) have been detected over most of the Peninsula and
the Ronne ice shelf. Negative anomalies have been detected in 2008
over the Wilkins ice shelf and on the East part of the continent, down
to about 20 days on many locations distributed along the coast. The
analysis of the trends (1979–2008) of the number of melting days on a
pixel by pixel basis have shown a positive trend over most of the West
Antarctica, with peak values up to 1.2 days/year over the Larsen C ice
shelf, 1.8 days/year over the George VI ice shelf and 0.55 days/year
over the Wilkins ice shelf area. On East Antarctica, both negative and
positive trends have been observed, even over the same ice shelf, with
no coherent spatial pattern.
The correlation between MI values and December–January
averaged air/surface temperature over selected locations has been
also studied in order to evaluate the use of remote sensing results for
studying melt relationships with climate. Correlation values range
between ∼ 0.8 and ∼0.4. The coefficients derived from the linear
regression between MI and averaged December–January air/surface
temperature have been used to derive values of average air/surface
temperature required for generating significant melting. Results
suggest that a 1 °C increase in the monthly averaged DJ air/surface
temperature corresponds to a melting index increase between
0.94 · 106 × km2 × day and 3.49 · 106 × km2 × day, depending on the
area, with an average value of 2.18 or 2.14 · 106 × km2 × day, depending
on the algorithm. The December–January average air/surface tem-
peratures when melting occurs for the different locations were
derived from the linear regression analysis. In the case of MEMLS2
(M + 30 K) results are −2.95 (−2.73) °C for Casey, −1.6 (−1.75) °C
for Davis, − 9.07 (− 11.06) °C for Faraday/Vernadsky, − 7.2 (− 7.3) °C
for Halley, −2.65 (−2.65) °C for Mawson, −6.85 (−5.98) °C for
Mirny, −2.12 (−2.08) °C for Novolazarevskaya, − 4.27 (−5.69) °C for
Rothera and − 2.80 (− 2.81) °C for Syowa stations. It is noted that the
mean temperature values in the case of the Faraday/Vernadsky and
the Davis stations appear to be extremely low and this is the focus of
ongoing investigation.
Future work includes the exploration of available data sets for
forcing surface energy balance models and refining the comparison
between satellite- and ground-based results, especially within the
framework of the International Polar Year (IPY). Moreover, QuikSCAT
data re-gridded to a spatial resolution of a few kilometers (http://
www.scp.byu.edu/data/Quikscat/SIR/Quikscat_sir.html) are being
used to study the spatial distribution of melting patterns and quantify
the effect of mixed dry/wet snow areas within each cell of the passive
microwave data. Concurrently, visible and infra-red data from the
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
(ASTER) are being used over selected areas of the Peninsula to
quantify the occurrence of surface liquid water (e.g., melt ponds).
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the City University of New York, NASA
and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County through the grants
997
UMBC 1253 10140 022 00002322, 1253 10140 022 00002264 and
1253 10140 02200002262 and CUNY 93333-0001.
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