C. Heuzé and W. Aldenhoff (2018), Near-Real Time Detection of the Re-Opening of the Weddell Polynya, Antarctica, from Spaceborne Infrared Imagery, Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2018 IEEE International, pp 5613-5616, doi:10.1109/IGARSS.2018.8518219.

In September 2017, the Weddell Polynya reopened over the Maud Rise region for the first time since 1976. I personally would have loved to know in advance that it would happen, so that measurements could be obtained during the opening itself.

The Polynya opens because warm water is upwelled – we determined in this publication that this extra heat was detectable several days in advance from spaceborne infrared images. Traditional methods using microwave-inferred sea ice concentration or thickness in contrast would only be useful once the polynya has opened.

Upcoming funding decision dependent, more publications to come.

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Two scenes before the opening of the polynya. Adapted from Fig 2 of that publication.