ICE COVER OF EURASIAN WATER BODIES AND RIVERS FROM SATELLITE AND IN SITU OBSERVATIONS

摘要

We present studies of ice cover of continental waterrnbodies and rivers using the synergy of more than 15rnyears-long simultaneous active (radar altimeter) andrnpassive (radiometer) observations from radar altimetricrnsatellites (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, ENVISAT andrnGeosat Follow-On) complemented by SSM/I passivernmicrowave data. Five largest Eurasian continental waterrnbodies - Caspian and Aral seas, Baikal, Ladoga andrnOnega lakes, and the Ob' river in the Western Siberiarnare selected as examples. We use an ice discriminationrnapproach based on a combined use of the data, that hasrnbeen validated using in situ and independent satelliterndata in the visible range. We then analyse evolution ofrnice conditions for the lakes and inland seas usingrnhistorical data, recent satellite observations and our fieldrnstudies on the lakes Ladoga and Baikal.