The Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Sciences (XMAS 2027)

Arctic cyclones have rapid and significant impact on sea ice through both dynamic and thermodynamic processes. Sea ice kinematics, including drift and deformations, is especially active during these synoptic events, driving both air-sea interactions and forming sea ice ridges. These deformations usually manifest as highly anisotropic, localized linear kinematic features (LKFs). Meanwhile, mechanical redistribution caused by ice convergence and ridging is the only way of producing thickest sea ice. However, mainly due to limited spatial coverage and temporal revisits of satellite altimeters, the small-scale ice dynamics and the changes in the thickness distribution remain poorly observed at large scales,.
In this study, we upscale high-resolution ICESat-2 (IS2) measurements with collocating SAR images, and obtain daily instantaneous freeboard maps at the scale of IS2 beam segments. By combining with sea ice deformation maps, we further analyze the ITD and its changes associated with individual LKFs during a series of consecutive cyclones. The results, for the first time, reveal the participation and redistribution during ridging at the scale of LKFs. Related topics, such as the thermodynamic changes and snow fall accumulation during cyclones, are also discussed.