Analysis of the antarctic sea ice optical properties using high resolution satellite imagery

Understanding the Antarctic sea ice optical properties is the key to the accurate assessment of the radiative balance of the region. Although high resolution optical satellite data have recently become more available also over sea ice, most Antarctic remote sensing research is dedicated to land ice and glaciers, with sea ice classification studies still lacking. In the context of recent change with the two last years 2022 and 2023 showing record low Antarctic sea ice extent, high resolution sea ice optical properties are key to understanding the Antarctic sea ice evolution. In this work, we present high resolution surface classification based on the remote sensing Sentinel-2 MSI data. We retrieve sea ice albedo, fraction of blue ice and impurities. A case study scene features variable sea ice albedo, where pure sea ice alternates with darker sea ice featuring yellow substance contamination and potential surface melt.