Delineating Polynya Area Using Active and Passive Microwave Sensors for the Western Ross Sea Sector of Antarctica
A polynya is an area of open water or reduced concentration of sea ice surrounded by either concentrated sea ice or land ice. They are often seen as sites of intense ocean–atmosphere heat exchange and as ice production factories. Given their importance, it is crucial to quantify the accuracy of sate...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/15/10/2545/ 2023-08-20T04:00:37+02:00 Delineating Polynya Area Using Active and Passive Microwave Sensors for the Western Ross Sea Sector of Antarctica Girija Kalyani Burada Adrian McDonald James Renwick Ben Jolly agris 2023-05-12 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15102545 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Environmental Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs15102545 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Remote Sensing; Volume 15; Issue 10; Pages: 2545 Sentinel-1 coastal polynya sea ice passive microwave SAR Ross Sea Text 2023 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15102545 2023-08-01T10:03:05Z A polynya is an area of open water or reduced concentration of sea ice surrounded by either concentrated sea ice or land ice. They are often seen as sites of intense ocean–atmosphere heat exchange and as ice production factories. Given their importance, it is crucial to quantify the accuracy of satellite-derived polynya information. Polynyas in their early evolution phase are generally narrow and occur at scales likely too fine to be detected by widely used passive microwave (PMW) radiometric sensors. We derived 40 m scale polynya information over the western Ross Sea from high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Sentinel-1 C-band data and examined discrepancies with larger-scale estimates. We utilized two automated algorithms, supervised (a rule-based approach) and unsupervised (a combination of texture analysis with k-means clustering), to accurately identify the polynya areas. We generated data for validation using Sentinel-1 data at instances where polynyas can be visually delineated. Results from PMW sensors (NSIDC and AMSR2) and SAR-based algorithms (rule-based and texture-based) are compared with manually delineated polynya areas obtained through Sentinel-1. Analysis using PMW sensors revealed that NSIDC overestimates larger polynyas and underestimates smaller polynyas compared to AMSR2. We were more accurately able to identify polynya presence and area using Sentinel-1 SAR observations, especially in clear cases and cases when PMW data miscalculates the polynya’s presence. Of our SAR-based algorithms, the rule-based approach was more accurate than the texture-based approach at identifying clear polynyas when validated against manually delineated regions. Altogether, we emphasize the need for finer spatio-temporal resolution data for polynya studies. Text Antarc* Antarctica Ross Sea Sea ice MDPI Open Access Publishing Ross Sea Remote Sensing 15 10 2545 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
Sentinel-1 coastal polynya sea ice passive microwave SAR Ross Sea |
spellingShingle |
Sentinel-1 coastal polynya sea ice passive microwave SAR Ross Sea Girija Kalyani Burada Adrian McDonald James Renwick Ben Jolly Delineating Polynya Area Using Active and Passive Microwave Sensors for the Western Ross Sea Sector of Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Sentinel-1 coastal polynya sea ice passive microwave SAR Ross Sea |
description |
A polynya is an area of open water or reduced concentration of sea ice surrounded by either concentrated sea ice or land ice. They are often seen as sites of intense ocean–atmosphere heat exchange and as ice production factories. Given their importance, it is crucial to quantify the accuracy of satellite-derived polynya information. Polynyas in their early evolution phase are generally narrow and occur at scales likely too fine to be detected by widely used passive microwave (PMW) radiometric sensors. We derived 40 m scale polynya information over the western Ross Sea from high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Sentinel-1 C-band data and examined discrepancies with larger-scale estimates. We utilized two automated algorithms, supervised (a rule-based approach) and unsupervised (a combination of texture analysis with k-means clustering), to accurately identify the polynya areas. We generated data for validation using Sentinel-1 data at instances where polynyas can be visually delineated. Results from PMW sensors (NSIDC and AMSR2) and SAR-based algorithms (rule-based and texture-based) are compared with manually delineated polynya areas obtained through Sentinel-1. Analysis using PMW sensors revealed that NSIDC overestimates larger polynyas and underestimates smaller polynyas compared to AMSR2. We were more accurately able to identify polynya presence and area using Sentinel-1 SAR observations, especially in clear cases and cases when PMW data miscalculates the polynya’s presence. Of our SAR-based algorithms, the rule-based approach was more accurate than the texture-based approach at identifying clear polynyas when validated against manually delineated regions. Altogether, we emphasize the need for finer spatio-temporal resolution data for polynya studies. |
format |
Text |
author |
Girija Kalyani Burada Adrian McDonald James Renwick Ben Jolly |
author_facet |
Girija Kalyani Burada Adrian McDonald James Renwick Ben Jolly |
author_sort |
Girija Kalyani Burada |
title |
Delineating Polynya Area Using Active and Passive Microwave Sensors for the Western Ross Sea Sector of Antarctica |
title_short |
Delineating Polynya Area Using Active and Passive Microwave Sensors for the Western Ross Sea Sector of Antarctica |
title_full |
Delineating Polynya Area Using Active and Passive Microwave Sensors for the Western Ross Sea Sector of Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Delineating Polynya Area Using Active and Passive Microwave Sensors for the Western Ross Sea Sector of Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Delineating Polynya Area Using Active and Passive Microwave Sensors for the Western Ross Sea Sector of Antarctica |
title_sort |
delineating polynya area using active and passive microwave sensors for the western ross sea sector of antarctica |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15102545 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Ross Sea |
geographic_facet |
Ross Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Ross Sea Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Ross Sea Sea ice |
op_source |
Remote Sensing; Volume 15; Issue 10; Pages: 2545 |
op_relation |
Environmental Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs15102545 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15102545 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
2545 |
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1774719313755766784 |