Bridging Gaps in the Climate Observation Network: A Physics‐Based Nonlinear Dynamical Interpolation of Lagrangian Ice Floe Measurements via Data‐Driven Stochastic Models

Abstract

Modeling and understanding sea ice dynamics in marginal ice zones rely on measurements of sea ice. Lagrangian observations of ice floes provide insight into the dynamics of sea ice, the ocean, and the atmosphere. However, optical satellite images are susceptible to atmospheric noise, leading to gaps in the retrieved time series of floe positions. This paper presents an efficient and statistically accurate nonlinear dynamical interpolation framework for recovering missing floe observations. It exploits a balanced physics‐based and data‐driven construction to address the challenges posed by the high‐dimensional and nonlinear nature of the coupled atmosphere‐ice‐ocean system, where effective reduced‐order stochastic models, nonlinear data assimilation, and simultaneous parameter estimation are systematically integrated. The new method succeeds in recovering the locations, curvatures, angular displacements, and the associated strong non‐Gaussian distributions of the missing floes in the Beaufort Sea. It also accurately estimates floe thickness and recovers the unobserved underlying ocean field with an appropriate uncertainty quantification, advancing our understanding of Arctic climate.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2022
Source ID
10.1029/2022ms003218

Entities

People

  • Jeffrey Covington
  • Monica M. Wilhelmus
  • Nan Chen

Organizations

  • Brown University
  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Adaptive Control and Estimation with Uncertainty in Dynamic Systems.
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Polar and Arctic Studies

Technology Areas

  • Space