I work with measurements of spectral light transmittance through snow and sea ice to investigate the under-ice light field in the Arctic. The data is obtained with hyper-spectral radiometers mounted on a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) which I operate along the ice underside. To understand how different ice and snow regimes influence the spectral light transmittance I combine 3D topography data from a Terrestrial Laser Scanner, snow thickness measurements from a Magna Probe, and ice draft data recorded with a multi-beam sonar also mounted on the ROV.
The main challenge of my PhD is to develop a parameterization that only uses spectral transmittance data and yields information about the sea ice and snow geometry. Further, I want to apply this parameterization on aerial photos and visual remote sensing images to study regional energy budgets on an aggregate scale.
