"The Arctic ice is melting faster than ever. We need knowledge about the thickness of the sea ice, both to reduce safety risks for businesses and shipping in the Arctic, but also to make forecasts for the future climate," says team leader Jack Landy at the Department of Physics and Technology at UiT who began the work while at the University of Bristol.

The research team has developed the first dataset showing the thickness of sea ice across the entire Arctic and through a whole year. The results are published in the journal Nature.

Satellites are dazzled by the melting ice

Satellites have been used to measure the thickness of ice in the Arctic since the 1980s. But the technique has only worked in winter, from October to March, when the ice and snow are cold and dry.

"In the summer months the satellites are dazzled by ponds of snow and ice meltwater that pool on the sea ice surface. Then they have been unable to distinguish between melting ice and water," says Landy.

Using AI to solve the problem

To solve the problem, the researchers have adopted Artificial Intelligence (AI) and examined previous data from the satellites. Now they know when the satellites register ice and when they register ocean.