Melt pond fraction (MPF) on sea ice is an important factor for ice‐albedo feedback throughout the Arctic Ocean. We propose an algorithm to estimate MPF using satellite passive microwave data in this study. The brightness temperature (TB) data obtained from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer‐Earth observing system (AMSR‐E) were compared to the ship‐based MPF in the Beaufort Sea and Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The difference between the TB at horizontal and vertical polarizations of 6.9 and 89.0 GHz (MP06H–89V), respectively, depends on the MPF. The correlation between MP06H–89V and ship‐based MPF was higher than that between ship‐based MPF and two individual channels (6.9 and 89.0 GHz of horizontal and vertical polarizations, respectively). The MPF determined with the highest resolution channel, 89.0 GHz (5 km × 5 km), provides spatial information with more detail than the 6.9 GHz channel. The algorithm estimates the relative fraction of ice covered by water (1) over areas where sea ice concentration is higher than 95%, (2) during late summer, and (3) in areas with low atmospheric humidity. The MPF estimated from AMSR‐E data (AMSR‐E MPF) in early summer was underestimated at lower latitudes and overestimated at higher latitudes, compared to the MPF obtained from the Moderate Resolution Image Spectrometer (MODIS MPF). The differences between AMSR‐E MPF and MODIS MPF were less than 5% in most the regions and the periods. Our results suggest that the proposal algorithm serves as a basis for building time series of MPF in regions of consolidated ice pack.

Meltwater drainage onset (DO) timing and drainage duration (DD) related to snowmelt-water redistribution are both important for understanding not only the Arctic energy and heat budgets but also the salt/heat balance of the mixed layer in the ocean and sea-ice ecosystem. We present DO and DD as determined from the time series of Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth observing system (AMSR-E) melt pond fraction (MPF) estimates in an area with Canadian landfast ice. To address the lack of evaluation on a day-by-day basis for the AMSR-E MPF estimate, we first compared AMSR-E MPF with the daily Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) MPF. The AMSR-E MPF estimate correlates significantly with the MERIS MPF (r = 0.73–0.83). The estimate has a product quality similar to the MERIS MPF only when the albedo is around 0.5–0.7 and a positive bias of up to 10% in areas with an albedo of 0.7–0.9, including melting snow. The DO/DD estimates are determined by using a polynomial regression curve fitted on the time series of the AMSR-E MPF. The DOs/DDs from time series of the AMSR-E and MERIS MPFs are compared, revealing consistency in both DD and DO. The DO timing from 2006 to 2011 is correlated with melt onset timing. To the best of our knowledge, our study provides the first large-scale information on both DO timing and DD.

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