Sensitivity of Radar Altimeter Waveform to Changes in Sea Ice Type at Resolution of Synthetic Aperture Radar
Radar altimetry in the context of sea ice has mostly been exploited to retrieve basin-scale information about sea ice thickness. In this paper, we investigate the sensitivity of altimetric waveforms to small-scale changes (a few hundred meters to about 10 km) of the sea ice surface. Near-coincidenta...
Published in: | Remote Sensing |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222602 https://doaj.org/article/0ba53be3fda240faa11a9ad5ac7bf46a |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0ba53be3fda240faa11a9ad5ac7bf46a |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0ba53be3fda240faa11a9ad5ac7bf46a 2023-05-15T15:40:34+02:00 Sensitivity of Radar Altimeter Waveform to Changes in Sea Ice Type at Resolution of Synthetic Aperture Radar Wiebke Aldenhoff Céline Heuzé Leif E. B. Eriksson 2019-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222602 https://doaj.org/article/0ba53be3fda240faa11a9ad5ac7bf46a EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/22/2602 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs11222602 https://doaj.org/article/0ba53be3fda240faa11a9ad5ac7bf46a Remote Sensing, Vol 11, Iss 22, p 2602 (2019) sea ice sar altimetry Science Q article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222602 2022-12-31T16:07:39Z Radar altimetry in the context of sea ice has mostly been exploited to retrieve basin-scale information about sea ice thickness. In this paper, we investigate the sensitivity of altimetric waveforms to small-scale changes (a few hundred meters to about 10 km) of the sea ice surface. Near-coincidental synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery and CryoSat-2 altimetric data in the Beaufort Sea are used to identify and study the spatial evolution of altimeter waveforms over these features. Open water and thin ice features are easily identified because of their high peak power waveforms. Thicker ice features such as ridges and multiyear ice floes of a few hundred meters cause a response in the waveform. However, these changes are not reflected in freeboard estimates. Retrieval of robust freeboard estimates requires homogeneous floes in the order of 10 km along-track and a few kilometers to both sides across-track. We conclude that the combination of SAR imagery and altimeter data could improve the local sea ice picture by extending spatially scarce freeboard estimates to regions of similar SAR signature. Article in Journal/Newspaper Beaufort Sea Sea ice Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Remote Sensing 11 22 2602 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
sea ice sar altimetry Science Q |
spellingShingle |
sea ice sar altimetry Science Q Wiebke Aldenhoff Céline Heuzé Leif E. B. Eriksson Sensitivity of Radar Altimeter Waveform to Changes in Sea Ice Type at Resolution of Synthetic Aperture Radar |
topic_facet |
sea ice sar altimetry Science Q |
description |
Radar altimetry in the context of sea ice has mostly been exploited to retrieve basin-scale information about sea ice thickness. In this paper, we investigate the sensitivity of altimetric waveforms to small-scale changes (a few hundred meters to about 10 km) of the sea ice surface. Near-coincidental synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery and CryoSat-2 altimetric data in the Beaufort Sea are used to identify and study the spatial evolution of altimeter waveforms over these features. Open water and thin ice features are easily identified because of their high peak power waveforms. Thicker ice features such as ridges and multiyear ice floes of a few hundred meters cause a response in the waveform. However, these changes are not reflected in freeboard estimates. Retrieval of robust freeboard estimates requires homogeneous floes in the order of 10 km along-track and a few kilometers to both sides across-track. We conclude that the combination of SAR imagery and altimeter data could improve the local sea ice picture by extending spatially scarce freeboard estimates to regions of similar SAR signature. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wiebke Aldenhoff Céline Heuzé Leif E. B. Eriksson |
author_facet |
Wiebke Aldenhoff Céline Heuzé Leif E. B. Eriksson |
author_sort |
Wiebke Aldenhoff |
title |
Sensitivity of Radar Altimeter Waveform to Changes in Sea Ice Type at Resolution of Synthetic Aperture Radar |
title_short |
Sensitivity of Radar Altimeter Waveform to Changes in Sea Ice Type at Resolution of Synthetic Aperture Radar |
title_full |
Sensitivity of Radar Altimeter Waveform to Changes in Sea Ice Type at Resolution of Synthetic Aperture Radar |
title_fullStr |
Sensitivity of Radar Altimeter Waveform to Changes in Sea Ice Type at Resolution of Synthetic Aperture Radar |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sensitivity of Radar Altimeter Waveform to Changes in Sea Ice Type at Resolution of Synthetic Aperture Radar |
title_sort |
sensitivity of radar altimeter waveform to changes in sea ice type at resolution of synthetic aperture radar |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222602 https://doaj.org/article/0ba53be3fda240faa11a9ad5ac7bf46a |
genre |
Beaufort Sea Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Beaufort Sea Sea ice |
op_source |
Remote Sensing, Vol 11, Iss 22, p 2602 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/22/2602 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs11222602 https://doaj.org/article/0ba53be3fda240faa11a9ad5ac7bf46a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222602 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
22 |
container_start_page |
2602 |
_version_ |
1766373024659931136 |