Linking winter and spring thermodynamic sea-ice states at critical scales using an object-based image analysis of Sentinel-1

Changing Arctic sea-ice extent and melt season duration, and increasing economic interest in the Arctic have prompted the need for enhanced marine ecosystem studies and improvements to dynamical and forecast models. Sea-ice melt pond fraction f p has been shown to be correlated with the September minimum ice extent due to its impact on ice albedo and heat uptake. Ice forecasts should benefit from knowledge of f p as melt ponds form several...