Multi-sensor observation of processes in and around coastal polynias

• Main Authors: Hollands, Thomas, Dierking, Wolfgang
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37961/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37961/1/RESA_Hollandspdfcompress.pdf; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45519; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45519.d001

Coastal polynias are open water areas in the sea-ice-cover. They are highly dynamical regions in the sea-ice-covered oceans of the Polar Regions. Their occurrence is mainly triggered by strong katabatic winds that push the ice offshore. Due to the lack of the insulating sea ice cover, polynias have a strong impact on the local heat and energy exchange as well as on the ice production. In our project we focus on the combination of different satellite sensors in order to study the formation and evolution of polynias. During the last melting period (September 2014 to November 2014) we acquired an extensive time series of TerraSAR-X images over two polynias in Antarctica. Those observations were supplemented by data of other SAR-Satellites and by images of optical sensors on Terra, Aqua, Landsat and RapidEye. RapidEye allows us to study sea ice formation processes and ice types with a very high spatial resolution which helps us to interpret the coarser and less intuitive microwave data for these regions. We will present examples for the combination of images from different sensors and their interpretation and show first results for our test areas in Antarctica. This will include the presentation of polynia evolution in the two regions as recorded by TerraSAR-X, as well as complementary RapidEye data.