Baffin Bay Ice Export and Production From Sentinel-1, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, and CryoSat-2: 2016–2022

Abstract

Baffin Bay is located between Greenland and several islands of the Canadian Arctic, providing a conduit for the downstream transport of ice and freshwater to the North Atlantic via Davis Strait. Using satellite observations from Sentinel‐1, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, and CryoSat‐2, we estimated the sea ice export through Davis Strait and winter ice production in Baffin Bay from 2016 to 2022. The average annual ice export for this 6‐year period was 981 ± 193 × 10³ km² for area 816 ± 130 km³ for volume, and 653 ± 130 km³ for solid freshwater, all of which are considerably higher than previously reported estimates. The average winter ice area production upstream of Davis Strait was 758 × 10³ km² and the volume production was 589 km³ indicating that more than 80% of the ice exported out of Baffin Bay was produced locally. Compared to Fram Strait, sea ice fluxes through Davis Strait represent ∼59% of the volume and ∼111% of the area.