Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Using Multiple Images: The Alaska North Slope Case Study

• Main Authors: Pe'eri, Shachak, Smith, Shep M, LT, Snyder, Leland P., Madore, Brian
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository 2014
• Subjects: Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology; Arctic; Alaska North Slope; Barrow; north slope; Point Barrow; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholars.unh.edu/ccom/865; https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1865&context=ccom

Currently, charting data in much of the U.S. Arctic North Slope is inadequate or nonexistent and most of its areas have not been updated since the early-1950s. Although the charting infrastructure is out of date, ship transportation (such as, fishing and transit between the towns) has increased. NOAA conducted a preliminary multibeam survey in 2013 that reached Point Barrow, AK. However, all the Arctic North Slope remained untouched. Previous studies have shown that satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) is a useful reconnaissance tool in tropical and sub-tropical waters in clear water conditions, especially over sandy seafloor. However, it is very difficult to extract good information over the Arctic using a single satellite image, especially over the U.S. North Slope. The glacial powder from land reduces the water clarity that limits the light penetration depth. Also, this turbidity is not uniform along the coast line and may affect the calculations. In this paper, a new SDB approach was developed that compiles multiple satellite images to extract only areas that were identified "clear" by comparison (i.e., minimum water clarity change between two satellite images). Preliminary results using Landsat 7 imagery from 1999-2002 and Landsat 8 imagery from 2013 are presented.