Color composite of SCANSAR and MODIS data for sea ice monitoring in the Sea of Okhotsk

• Main Authors: Kohei Cho, Atsushi Komaki, Haruhisa Shimoda
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: PALSAR; ice concentration; thin sea ice; Okhotsk; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.503.9003; http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/ALOS/en/conf/Proc_PIsymp2007/contents/proceedings/International_Polar_Year/IPY01.pdf

Tokai University is providing MODIS images of the Sea of Okhotsk to the Ice Information Center of the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) on daily basis in winter seasons. The MODIS image is used by the JCG as one of the most fundamental data sources for making the Sea Ice Condition Charts which are provided from JCG to end users every day. In order to compensate the MODIS observation of the cloudy days, JAXA is occasionally providing PALSAR SCASAR mode images of ALOS satellite to JCG since December 2006. However, since the looks of the SCANSAR images are quite different from optical sensor images, it is not no so easy for the operators to use the SCANSAR images for making the Sea Ice Charts. In order to support the Sea Ice Chart production operators, ways to fuse the SCANSAR data with MODIS data were examined. The color composite of MODIS and SCANSAR data using HSI transformation was evaluated as an appropriate way of fusing both data for extracting sea ice information for making the charts. However, for the further study, multi-stage remote sensing is required.