Feasibility Study for the Application of Synthetic Aperture Radar for Coastal Erosion Rate Quantification Across the Arctic

• Published in: Frontiers in Environmental Science
• Main Authors: Annett Bartsch, Sarah Ley, Ingmar Nitze, Georg Pointner, Gonçalo Vieira
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
• Subjects: Arctic; erosion; SAR; radar; coast; permafrost; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Barents Sea; Laptev Sea; Kay; Herschel Island; Beaufort Sea; laptev
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2020.00143; https://doaj.org/article/62082c8ecbd842428824536633a06578

The applicability of optical satellite data to quantify coastal erosion across the Arctic is limited due to frequent cloud cover. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) may provide an alternative. The interpretation of SAR data for coastal erosion monitoring in Arctic regions is, however, challenging due to issues of viewing geometry, ambiguities in scattering behavior and inconsistencies in acquisition strategies. In order to assess SAR applicability, we have investigated data acquired at three different wavelengths (X-, C-, L-band; TerraSAR-X, Sentinel-1, ALOS PALSAR 1/2). In a first step we developed a pre-processing workflow which considers viewing geometry issues (shoreline orientation, incidence angle relationships with respect to different landcover types). We distinguish between areas with foreshortening along cliffs facing the sensor, radar shadow along cliffs facing away and traditional land-water boundary discrimination. Results are compared to retrievals from Landsat trends. Four regions which feature high erosion rates have been selected. All three wavelengths have been investigated for Kay Point (Canadian Beaufort Sea Coast). C- and L-band have been studied at all sites, including also Herschel Island (Canadian Beaufort Sea Coast), Varandai (Barents Sea Coast, Russia), and Bykovsky Peninsula (Laptev Sea coast, Russia). Erosion rates have been derived for a 1-year period (2017–2018) and in case of L-band also over 11 years (2007–2018). Results indicate applicability of all wavelengths, but acquisitions need to be selected with care to deal with potential ambiguities in scattering behavior. Furthermore, incidence angle dependencies need to be considered for discrimination of the land-water boundary in case of L- and C-band. However, L-band has the lowest sensitivity to wave action and relevant future missions are expected to be of value for coastal erosion monitoring. The utilization of trends derived from Landsat is also promising for efficient long-term trend retrieval. The high spatial resolution of ...