Evaluation of single-band snow-patch mapping using high-resolution microwave remote sensing: an application in the maritime Antarctic

The mountainous and ice-free terrains of the maritime Antarctic generate complex mosaics of snow patches, ranging from tens to hundreds of metres. These can only be accurately mapped using high-resolution remote sensing. In this paper we evaluate the application of radar scenes from TerraSAR-X in Hi...

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Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: Mora, Carla, Jiménez, Juan Javier, Pina, Pedro, Catalão, João, Vieira, Gonçalo
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-139-2017
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/11/139/2017/
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spelling ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc54103 2023-05-15T13:54:27+02:00 Evaluation of single-band snow-patch mapping using high-resolution microwave remote sensing: an application in the maritime Antarctic Mora, Carla Jiménez, Juan Javier Pina, Pedro Catalão, João Vieira, Gonçalo 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-139-2017 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/11/139/2017/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-11-139-2017 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/11/139/2017/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-139-2017 2020-07-20T16:23:51Z The mountainous and ice-free terrains of the maritime Antarctic generate complex mosaics of snow patches, ranging from tens to hundreds of metres. These can only be accurately mapped using high-resolution remote sensing. In this paper we evaluate the application of radar scenes from TerraSAR-X in High Resolution SpotLight mode for mapping snow patches at a test area on Fildes Peninsula (King George Island, South Shetlands). Snow-patch mapping and characterization of snow stratigraphy were conducted at the time of image acquisition on 12 and 13 January 2012. Snow was wet in all studied snow patches, with coarse-grain and rounded crystals showing advanced melting and with frequent ice layers in the snow pack. Two TerraSAR-X scenes in HH and VV polarization modes were analysed, with the former showing the best results when discriminating between wet snow, lake water and bare soil. However, significant overlap in the backscattering signal was found. Average wet-snow backscattering was −18.0 dB in HH mode, with water showing −21.1 dB and bare soil showing −11.9 dB. Single-band pixel-based and object-oriented image classification methods were used to assess the classification potential of TerraSAR-X SpotLight imagery. The best results were obtained with an object-oriented approach using a watershed segmentation with a support vector machine (SVM) classifier, with an overall accuracy of 92 % and Kappa of 0.88. The main limitation was the west to north-west facing snow patches, which showed significant error, an issue related to artefacts from the geometry of satellite imagery acquisition. The results show that TerraSAR-X in SpotLight mode provides high-quality imagery for mapping wet snow and snowmelt in the maritime Antarctic. The classification procedure that we propose is a simple method and a first step to an implementation in operational mode if a good digital elevation model is available. Text Antarc* Antarctic King George Island Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Antarctic Fildes ENVELOPE(-58.817,-58.817,-62.217,-62.217) Fildes peninsula ENVELOPE(-58.948,-58.948,-62.182,-62.182) King George Island The Cryosphere 11 1 139 155
institution Open Polar
collection Copernicus Publications: E-Journals
op_collection_id ftcopernicus
language English
description The mountainous and ice-free terrains of the maritime Antarctic generate complex mosaics of snow patches, ranging from tens to hundreds of metres. These can only be accurately mapped using high-resolution remote sensing. In this paper we evaluate the application of radar scenes from TerraSAR-X in High Resolution SpotLight mode for mapping snow patches at a test area on Fildes Peninsula (King George Island, South Shetlands). Snow-patch mapping and characterization of snow stratigraphy were conducted at the time of image acquisition on 12 and 13 January 2012. Snow was wet in all studied snow patches, with coarse-grain and rounded crystals showing advanced melting and with frequent ice layers in the snow pack. Two TerraSAR-X scenes in HH and VV polarization modes were analysed, with the former showing the best results when discriminating between wet snow, lake water and bare soil. However, significant overlap in the backscattering signal was found. Average wet-snow backscattering was −18.0 dB in HH mode, with water showing −21.1 dB and bare soil showing −11.9 dB. Single-band pixel-based and object-oriented image classification methods were used to assess the classification potential of TerraSAR-X SpotLight imagery. The best results were obtained with an object-oriented approach using a watershed segmentation with a support vector machine (SVM) classifier, with an overall accuracy of 92 % and Kappa of 0.88. The main limitation was the west to north-west facing snow patches, which showed significant error, an issue related to artefacts from the geometry of satellite imagery acquisition. The results show that TerraSAR-X in SpotLight mode provides high-quality imagery for mapping wet snow and snowmelt in the maritime Antarctic. The classification procedure that we propose is a simple method and a first step to an implementation in operational mode if a good digital elevation model is available.
format Text
author Mora, Carla
Jiménez, Juan Javier
Pina, Pedro
Catalão, João
Vieira, Gonçalo
spellingShingle Mora, Carla
Jiménez, Juan Javier
Pina, Pedro
Catalão, João
Vieira, Gonçalo
Evaluation of single-band snow-patch mapping using high-resolution microwave remote sensing: an application in the maritime Antarctic
author_facet Mora, Carla
Jiménez, Juan Javier
Pina, Pedro
Catalão, João
Vieira, Gonçalo
author_sort Mora, Carla
title Evaluation of single-band snow-patch mapping using high-resolution microwave remote sensing: an application in the maritime Antarctic
title_short Evaluation of single-band snow-patch mapping using high-resolution microwave remote sensing: an application in the maritime Antarctic
title_full Evaluation of single-band snow-patch mapping using high-resolution microwave remote sensing: an application in the maritime Antarctic
title_fullStr Evaluation of single-band snow-patch mapping using high-resolution microwave remote sensing: an application in the maritime Antarctic
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of single-band snow-patch mapping using high-resolution microwave remote sensing: an application in the maritime Antarctic
title_sort evaluation of single-band snow-patch mapping using high-resolution microwave remote sensing: an application in the maritime antarctic
publishDate 2018
url https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-139-2017
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/11/139/2017/
long_lat ENVELOPE(-58.817,-58.817,-62.217,-62.217)
ENVELOPE(-58.948,-58.948,-62.182,-62.182)
geographic Antarctic
Fildes
Fildes peninsula
King George Island
geographic_facet Antarctic
Fildes
Fildes peninsula
King George Island
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
King George Island
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
King George Island
op_source eISSN: 1994-0424
op_relation doi:10.5194/tc-11-139-2017
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/11/139/2017/
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-139-2017
container_title The Cryosphere
container_volume 11
container_issue 1
container_start_page 139
op_container_end_page 155
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