CHAPTER 12
Towards Operational Monitoring of Arctic Sea Ice by SAR
A.J. SEPHTON AND K.C. PARTINGTON
Contents
12.1 Introduction..................................................................................... 259
12.2 Ice Classification and Concentration.................................................... 261
12.2.1 Overview........................................................................................ 261
12.2.1.1 Speckle ........................................................................................ 261
12.2.1.2 Inherent Variability in Backscatter.......... ......................................... 262
12.2.2 Segmentation................................................................................. 262
12.2.3 Classification and Concentration....................................................... 264
12.3 Ice Motion........................................................................................ 268
12.3.1 Overview........................................................................................ 268
12.3.2 Pack Ice Motion.............................................................................. 270
12.3.3 Marginal Ice Motion ........................................................................ 271
12-4 Iceberg Detection.............................................................................. 274
12.5 Operational Implementation............................................................... 276
References............................................................................................... 278
12.1
Introduction
This chapter describes work at GEC - Marconi Research Centre (MRC) on the development of image analysis tools for sea ice monitoring based on analysis of ERS-1 SAR data.
Issues of product quality, degree of automation and operational performance are considered, with particular emphasis on the SUN-based Ice Pilot Application Project (IPAP)
system that has been developed within the Application Visualization System (AVS) software environment at MRC over the period 1992 -1995,in conjunction with SAIC (Science
and Engineering) and Scott Polar Research Institute, and three commercial polar operators (Nunaoil, Canarctic, and BP) with varying interests in the Arctic.
Table 1 lists the main operational requirements for sea-ice products as specified by
the commercial operators within the IPAP study. System constraints on orbit geometry, swath width, resolution, and duty cycle clearly limit the degree to which these
requirements can be met for anyone satellite, and coupled with the need to minimize
data volumes to maintain reasonable processing performance all the IPAP products
were derived from standard ERS-1, three-look, precision image SAR scenes (aerial coverage 100 x 100 km), averaged to 100-m pixels.
Analysis of SAR Data of the Polar Oceans
Edited by C. Tsatsoulis and R. Kwok
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1998
Towards Operational Monitoring of Arctic Sea Ice by SAR
A.J. SEPHTON AND K.C. PARTINGTON
Contents
12.1 Introduction..................................................................................... 259
12.2 Ice Classification and Concentration.................................................... 261
12.2.1 Overview........................................................................................ 261
12.2.1.1 Speckle ........................................................................................ 261
12.2.1.2 Inherent Variability in Backscatter.......... ......................................... 262
12.2.2 Segmentation................................................................................. 262
12.2.3 Classification and Concentration....................................................... 264
12.3 Ice Motion........................................................................................ 268
12.3.1 Overview........................................................................................ 268
12.3.2 Pack Ice Motion.............................................................................. 270
12.3.3 Marginal Ice Motion ........................................................................ 271
12-4 Iceberg Detection.............................................................................. 274
12.5 Operational Implementation............................................................... 276
References............................................................................................... 278
12.1
Introduction
This chapter describes work at GEC - Marconi Research Centre (MRC) on the development of image analysis tools for sea ice monitoring based on analysis of ERS-1 SAR data.
Issues of product quality, degree of automation and operational performance are considered, with particular emphasis on the SUN-based Ice Pilot Application Project (IPAP)
system that has been developed within the Application Visualization System (AVS) software environment at MRC over the period 1992 -1995,in conjunction with SAIC (Science
and Engineering) and Scott Polar Research Institute, and three commercial polar operators (Nunaoil, Canarctic, and BP) with varying interests in the Arctic.
Table 1 lists the main operational requirements for sea-ice products as specified by
the commercial operators within the IPAP study. System constraints on orbit geometry, swath width, resolution, and duty cycle clearly limit the degree to which these
requirements can be met for anyone satellite, and coupled with the need to minimize
data volumes to maintain reasonable processing performance all the IPAP products
were derived from standard ERS-1, three-look, precision image SAR scenes (aerial coverage 100 x 100 km), averaged to 100-m pixels.
Analysis of SAR Data of the Polar Oceans
Edited by C. Tsatsoulis and R. Kwok
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1998