Variability of internal snow properties over Antarctic late summer sea ice on different spatial scales

Variability of internal snow properties over Antarctic late summer sea ice on different spatial scales
Daria Paul, Danu Caus, Paul Keil, Christopher Kadow, and Stefanie Arndt
The Cryosphere, 20, 5491–5508, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5491-2026, 2026
We studied how snow and its properties vary across Antarctic sea ice using detailed field measurements combined with machine learning methods. We found that differences between ice types are mainly due to how snow layers are arranged rather than their basic properties. Snow changes over short distances, meaning single measurements often miss this complexity. Capturing this variability is key to improving climate models and satellite estimates.

Source: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5491-2026