Zone Imagery*

• Main Authors: Donna Haverkamp, Costas Tsatsoulis
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Beaufort Sea
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.69.3086; http://www.ittc.ku.edu/publications/documents/Tsatsoulis1996_igarss96-5.pdf

Abstract-- Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is difficdt to classify under summer melt conditions, even with the human eye. BackScatter instability causu the intensities of the fiistyear ice, multiyear ice, and open water classes to intermix, thus making an intensity-based classification invalid. The method p~nted in this paper supplements backscatter information from SAR data with wind and temporallyanalyzed temperature records and regional statistics in order to achieve an automated ice/no-ice classification of summer imagery in the marginal ice zone (MIZ). Referring to a database of prior area statistics (ice percentages, ice types, temperatures), an expert system forms conclusions to guide a current classification of the same area. Using parameters set by the expefi system, an algorithmic floe extraction procedure divides the image into two classes (one assumed to contain floes and the other assumed not to contain floes) and then subdivides those two classes into ice and water. Classification rmults are then compared to the expected values derived from temporal adjustments of prior ice percentages. Unacceptable differenc ~ are called to the attention of the user for further inspection and possible manual correction. The study area for testing is the Beaufort Sea, with data taken from the ERS-1 SAR. Restits show that temporallyaccumulated data can be used to provide a basis for an automated class~lcation of MIZ imagexy under summer melt conditions.