All Issue

2026 Vol.29, Issue 2
Applicability of CryoSat-2 SARIn Mode for Monitoring Sea Level in the Ross Sea Polynya, Antarctica

CryoSat-2 SARIn 모드 관측의 남극 로스해 해수면 고도 관측 적용성 평가

Byeong-Hoon Kim1
,
Hyeonsoo Cha1*
김 병훈1
,
차 현수1*
1Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Chonnam National University
1전남대학교 지질환경과학과
*Corresponding Author
31 May 2026. pp. 91-99
PDF XML Citation
Abstract

In this study, we used CryoSat-2 Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (SARIn) mode data to estimate sea surface heights from the reference ellipsoid within the Ross Sea Polynya during the austral summer months (December–February) from 2010 to 2025. To isolate pure sea surface signals from environments mixed with sea ice and icebergs, we implemented an empirical filtering method based on Pulse Peakiness and Backscatter Coefficient. The filtered sea surface heights showed a strong consistency with the EGM2008 geoid model (R2=0.98). Moreover, residual analysis indicated that the SARIn mode observations successfully reflect the dynamic sea level of the Ross Sea. The inter-annual sea level anomaly time series also showed good agreement with the global gridded products (r=0.63) from the Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS). These findings confirm the potential of interferometric altimetry for monitoring polar coastal sea levels and provide a baseline for validating current and future satellite missions, including SWOT and CRISTAL.

Keywords
Satellite Altimetry
Sea Level Change
Antarctica
CryoSat-2

본 연구에서는 2010년 부터 2025년까지의 남반구 여름철(12월-2월)에 획득된 CryoSat-2 위성의 SARIn(Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry) 모드 자료를 활용하여 로스해 폴리냐 해역의 해수면 고도를 산출하고 그 정확도를 평가하였다. 해빙이나 빙산이 다소 혼재된 환경에서 순수 해수면 신호를 분리하기 위해, 파형 파라미터인 펄스 첨도(Pulse Peakiness)와 후방산란계수(Backscatter Coefficient)에 기반하여 경험적 필터링 기법을 적용하였다. EGM2008 지오이드 모델과의 비교 결과, 필터링된 해수면 고도는 모델과 높은 일치도(R2=0.98) 보였으며, 이상치를 제거한 잔차 분석을 통해CryoSat-2 SARIn 모드 관측이 로스해의 동적 해수면 변동 특성을 효과적으로 반영하고 있음을 확인하였다. 또한, 산출된 연별 해수면 변화 시계열은 공식적으로 배포되는 전 지구 해수면 자료(CMEMS)와 0.63의 높은 상관계수를 나타내어, 본 연구 결과의 신뢰성을 뒷받침하였다. 결론적으로 본 연구는 이를 통해 간섭계 기반 위성 고도계가 극지 연안 해역의 해수면 모니터링에 유효함을 입증하였으며, 향후SWOT 및 CRISTAL 등 차세대 위성 미션의 극지 데이터 검증 및 활용을 위한 좋은 기초 자료가 될 것으로 기대한다.

키워드
위성 고도계
남극
해수면 변화
CryoSat-2
References
1

Andersen, O. B. and Knudsen, P., 2009, DNSC08 mean sea surface and mean dynamic topography models, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 114(C11), C11001.

10.1029/2008JC005179
2

Brenner, A. C., Blndschadler, R. A., Thomas, R. H., and Zwally, H. J., 1983, Slope‐induced errors in radar altimetry over continental ice sheets, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 88(C3), 1617-1623.

10.1029/JC088iC03p01617
3

Drinkwater, M. R., 1991, Ku band airborne radar altimeter observations of marginal sea ice during the 1984 marginal ice zone experiment, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 96(C3), 4555-4572.

10.1029/90JC01954
4

ESA, 2021, CryoSat-2 Product Handbook: Baseline E 1.0 (Draft C). Retrieved from https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/missions/cryosat/data (December 22, 2025 Accessed).

5

Griesel, A., Mazloff, M. R., and Gille, S. T., 2012, Mean dynamic topography in the Southern Ocean: Evaluating Antarctic Circumpolar Current transport, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 117(C1), C01020.

10.1029/2011JC007573
6

Hamlington, B. D., Bellas-Manley, A., Willis, J. K., Fournier, S., Vinogradova, N., Nerem, R. S., Piecuch, C. G., Thompson, P. R., and Kopp, R., 2024, The rate of global sea level rise doubled during the past three decades, Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), 601.

10.1038/s43247-024-01761-5
7

International Altimetry Team, 2021, Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress, Advances in Space Research, 68(2), 319-363.

8

Jacobs, S. S., 2004, Bottom water production and its links with the thermohaline circulation, Antarctic Science, 16(4), 427-437.

10.1017/S095410200400224X
9

Laxon, S. W., Giles, K. A., Ridout, A. L., Wingham, D. J., Willatt, R., Cullen, R., Kwok, R., Schweiger, A., Zhang, J., Haas, C., Hendricks, S., Krishfield, R., Kurtz, N., Farrell, S., and Davidson, M., 2013, CryoSat‐2 estimates of Arctic sea ice thickness and volume, Geophysical Research Letters, 40(4), 732-737.

10.1002/grl.50193
10

Marshall, J. and Speer, K., 2012, Closure of the meridional overturning circulation through Southern Ocean upwelling, Nature Geoscience, 5(3), 171-180.

10.1038/ngeo1391
11

Orsi, A. H., Johnson, G. C., and Bullister, J. L., 1999, Circulation, mixing, and production of Antarctic Bottom Water, Progress in Oceanography, 43(1), 55-109.

10.1016/S0079-6611(99)00004-X
12

Pavlis, N. K., Holmes, S. A., Kenyon, S. C., and Factor, J. K., 2012, The development and evaluation of the Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008), Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 117(B4), B04406.

10.1029/2011JB008916
13

Peacock, N. R. and Laxon, S. W., 2004, Sea surface height determination in the Arctic Ocean from ERS altimetry, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 109(C7), C07001.

10.1029/2001JC001026
14

Raney, R. K., 1998, The delay/Doppler radar altimeter, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 36(5), 1578-1588.

10.1109/36.718861
15

Rintoul, S. R., 2018, The global influence of localized dynamics in the Southern Ocean, Nature, 558(7709), 209-218.

10.1038/s41586-018-0182-3
16

Spreen, G., Kaleschke, L., and Heygster, G., 2008, Sea ice remote sensing using AMSR‐E 89‐GHz channels, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 113(C2), C02S03.

10.1029/2005JC003384
17

Wernecke, A. and Kaleschke, L, 2015, Lead detection in Arctic sea ice from CryoSat-2: Quality assessment, lead area fraction and width distribution, The Cryosphere, 9(5), 1955-1968.

10.5194/tc-9-1955-2015
18

Wingham, D. J., Francis, C. R., Baker, S., Bouzinac, C., Brockley, D., Cullen, R., de Chateau-Thierry, P., Laxon, S. W., Mallow, U., Mavrocordatos, C., Phalippou, L., Ratier, G., Rey, L., Rostan, F., Viau, P., and Wallis, D. W., 2006, CryoSat: A mission to determine the fluctuations in Earth’s land and marine ice fields, Advances in Space Research, 37(4), 841-871.

10.1016/j.asr.2005.07.027
19

Yang, L., Lin, M., Liu, Q., and Pan, D., 2012, A coastal altimetry retracking strategy based on waveform classification and sub-waveform extraction, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 33(24), 7806-7819.

10.1080/01431161.2012.701350
Information
  • Publisher :Korean Society of Earth and Exploration Geophysicists
  • Publisher(Ko) :한국지구물리물리탐사학회
  • Journal Title :Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
  • Journal Title(Ko) :지구물리와 물리탐사
  • Volume : 29
  • No :2
  • Pages :91-99
  • Received Date : 2026-02-20
  • Revised Date : 2026-03-21
  • Accepted Date : 2026-05-17
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.7582/GGE.2026.29.2.091
Journal Informaiton Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
Online Submission
  • NRF
  • KOFST
  • KISTI Current Status
  • KISTI Cited-by
  • KCI 문헌 유사도 검사
  • open access
  • ccl
Journal Informaiton Journal Informaiton - close