Comparison of ice/water classification in Fram Strait from C- A nd L-band SAR imagery
Journal article, 2018

In this paper an algorithm for ice/water classification of C- A nd L-band dual polarization synthetic aperture radar data is presented. A comparison of the two different frequencies is made in order to investigate the potential to improve classification results with multi-frequency data. The algorithm is based on backscatter intensities in co- A nd cross-polarization and autocorrelation as a texture feature. The mapping between image features and ice/water classification is made with a neural network. Accurate ice/water maps for both frequencies are produced by the algorithm and the results of two frequencies generally agree very well. Differences are found in the marginal ice zone, where the time difference between acquisitions causes motion of the ice pack. C-band reliably reproduces the outline of the ice edge, while L-band has its strengths for thin ice/calm water areas within the icepack. The classification shows good agreement with ice/water maps derived from met.no ice-charts and radiometer data from AMSR-2. Variations are found in the marginal ice zone where the generalization of the ice charts and lower accuracy of ice concentration from radiometer data introduce deviations. Usage of high-resolution dual frequency data could be beneficial for improving ice cover information for navigation and modelling.

polar and subpolar oceans

sea ice

ice and climate

Author

Wiebke Aldenhoff

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing

Céline Heuzé

University of Gothenburg

Leif Eriksson

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing

Annals of Glaciology

0260-3055 (ISSN)

Vol. 59 76pt2 112-123

Radar remote sensing of sea ice in the Polar regions

Swedish National Space Board (140/13), 2014-01-01 -- 2016-12-31.

Subject Categories

Remote Sensing

Geophysics

Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

DOI

10.1017/aog.2018.7

More information

Latest update

6/11/2020