On the Detection and Long-Term Path Visualisation of A-68 Iceberg

• Published in: Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Lopez-Lopez, Ludwin, Parmiggiani, Flavio, Moctezuma-Flores, Miguel, Guerrieri, Lorenzo
• Other Authors: Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, CNR, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Sezione ONT, Roma, Italia
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2021
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Shelf; Iceberg*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2122/14994; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13030460

The article presents a methodology for examining a temporal sequence of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, as applied to the detection of the A-68 iceberg and its drifting trajectory. Using an improved image processing scheme, the analysis covers a period of eighteen months and makes use of a set of Sentinel-1 images. A-68 iceberg calved from the Larsen C ice shelf in July 2017 and is one of the largest icebergs observed by remote sensing on record. After the calving, there was only a modest decrease in the area (about 1%) in the first six months. It has been drifting along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, and is expected to continue its path for more than a decade. It is important to track the huge A-68 iceberg to retrieve information on the physics of iceberg dynamics and for maritime security reasons. Two relevant problems are addressed by the image processing scheme presented here: (a) How to achieve quasi-automatic analysis using a fuzzy logic approach to image contrast enhancement, and (b) The use of ferromagnetic concepts to define a stochastic segmentation. The Ising equation is used to model the energy function of the process, and the segmentation is the result of a stochastic minimization. Published 460 5A. Ricerche polari e paleoclima JCR Journal