Icebergs in the Amundsen Sea (Antarctica) determined from ENVISAT ASAR WSM data using object-based image analysis approach, link to ESRI GDB files

An object-based method for automatic iceberg detection from Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images has been developed and applied in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. The automatic identification is based on brightness and spatial parameters of the ASAR images at five scale levels, and was veri...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mazur, Aleksandra Katarzyna, Wåhlin, Anna, Krężel, Adam
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.856847
https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.856847
Description
Summary:An object-based method for automatic iceberg detection from Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images has been developed and applied in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. The automatic identification is based on brightness and spatial parameters of the ASAR images at five scale levels, and was verified with manual classification in four areas chosen to represent varying environmental conditions. The presented algorithm works comparatively well with images of the ocean in freezing temperatures and strong wind conditions, common in the Amundsen Sea. The detection rate was 96.2% which corresponds to 93.2% of the icebergs area, for all seasons. The algorithm generated 3.8% errors in the form of 'misses' and 7.0% of 'false alarms', mainly caused by the presence of ice floes. The method was applied on 432 radar images acquired in 2011 under different meteorological, oceanographic and sea ice conditions. As an output a map showing the probability of finding icebergs has been created. It shows that high probability coincides with depth contours and indicates a westward drift of the bergs throughout the whole region.