Sea ice floe size and shape data from a very high resolution satellite image (Knox Coast, East Antarctica)

• Main Author: Agnieszka Herman
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Gdańsk University of Technology 2021
• Subjects: sea ice-wave interactions; sea ice; floe size distribution; East Antarctica; object identification; Antarctic; Bowman Island; Knox Coast; Mill Island; Antarc*; Antarctica; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.34808/h3ye-4d45; https://mostwiedzy.pl/en/open-research-data/sea-ice-floe-size-and-shape-data-from-a-very-high-resolution-satellite-image-knox-coast-east-antarctica,118125230130560-0

This dataset contains floe size distribution data from a very high resolution (pixel size: 0.3 m) optical satellite image of sea ice, acquired on 16. Feb. 2019 off the Knox Coast (East Antarctica). The image shows relatively small ice floes produced by wave-induced breakup of landfast ice between the Mill Island and Bowman Island. The ice floes are characterized by a narrow size distribution and angular, polygonal shapes, typical for sea ice broken by waves. The original image is divided into three sectors, labelled A, B and C, with different `populations' of ice floes in terms of their mean size and shape properties. The content of the dataset, for each sector: boundaries and position of each floe identified within that sector, geometric properties of each floe (surface area, minimum and maximum caliper diameter, rectangularity, minor and major axis of a fitted ellipse, etc.), an image illustrating the identified floes and their width. The data in points 1. and 2. above are available as Matlab .mat files, the detailed content of which is described in the readme.txt file, included in the main dataset folder. The image processing and object identification methods used to extract the floe data from the original image, as well as the background weather, wave and sea ice data allowing the reconstruction of sea ice-wave interactions that produced the observed sizes and shaped of ice floes, can be found in the following paper: Herman, A., Wenta, M., and Cheng, S. (2021) ‘Sizes and shapes of sea ice floes broken by waves - a case study from the East Antarctic coast’, Frontiers in Earth Science (submitted). Please cite this paper when using this dataset.