Predicting Sea Ice Conditions over the Northern Sea Route

The project started in June 2016 and has a duration of 18 months. First, preliminary assessments address CryoSat-2 sea ice thickness and sea ice freeboard products provided by AWI. The observation impact is quantified through reduction in the uncertainty for predicted sea ice conditions over three regions along the Northern Sea Route (see Figure). The study further plans a systematic assessment of the impact that characteristics of a synthetic snow depth product (sampling frequency and accuracy) will have on the performance of sea ice predictions.