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.