Characterization of seasonal backscatter change in subarctic wetlands and river ice breakup using Radarsat data
The first objective of this research was to describe the backscatter response of Radarsat images to seasonal changes in the Hudson Bay Lowland. The second objective was to evaluate the potential of Radarsat images for predicting river ice cover breakup. Six Standard Mode images from spring, summer a...
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University of Guelph
1998
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ftunivguelph:oai:atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca:10214/22328 2023-11-05T03:42:29+01:00 Characterization of seasonal backscatter change in subarctic wetlands and river ice breakup using Radarsat data Murphy, Marley A. Martini, I.P. 1998 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10214/22328 en eng University of Guelph https://hdl.handle.net/10214/22328 All items in the Atrium are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. Radarsat data seasonal backscatter change subarctic wetlands river ice breakup environmental change Thesis 1998 ftunivguelph 2023-10-08T06:15:42Z The first objective of this research was to describe the backscatter response of Radarsat images to seasonal changes in the Hudson Bay Lowland. The second objective was to evaluate the potential of Radarsat images for predicting river ice cover breakup. Six Standard Mode images from spring, summer and fall, 1996 were used for the first objective. The backscatter response from numerous land covers was assessed and plotted over time. Environmental changes influenced backscatter more than incidence angle. Backscatter was low in spring due to the wet snow cover. Backscatter increased to a June peak because of the disappearance of snow and the increasing moisture content of vegetation. A decline into August was tied to declining amounts of water in vegetation and surface layers and a further backscatter decline into November was tied to deposition of new wet snow. Spring was found to be the best time of year for distinguishing between the land covers. Five Fine Mode images were used for the second objective. Three were pre-breakup and two were post-breakup. The images show many features indicative of approaching breakup including cracks, shear zones and texture changes from consistently mottled to distinctly patchy with circular, transverse and longitudinal bright features. Ice backscatter declined 2 to 4 dB from three weeks prior to just before breakup. Thesis Hudson Bay Subarctic University of Guelph: DSpace digital archive |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Guelph: DSpace digital archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivguelph |
language |
English |
topic |
Radarsat data seasonal backscatter change subarctic wetlands river ice breakup environmental change |
spellingShingle |
Radarsat data seasonal backscatter change subarctic wetlands river ice breakup environmental change Murphy, Marley A. Characterization of seasonal backscatter change in subarctic wetlands and river ice breakup using Radarsat data |
topic_facet |
Radarsat data seasonal backscatter change subarctic wetlands river ice breakup environmental change |
description |
The first objective of this research was to describe the backscatter response of Radarsat images to seasonal changes in the Hudson Bay Lowland. The second objective was to evaluate the potential of Radarsat images for predicting river ice cover breakup. Six Standard Mode images from spring, summer and fall, 1996 were used for the first objective. The backscatter response from numerous land covers was assessed and plotted over time. Environmental changes influenced backscatter more than incidence angle. Backscatter was low in spring due to the wet snow cover. Backscatter increased to a June peak because of the disappearance of snow and the increasing moisture content of vegetation. A decline into August was tied to declining amounts of water in vegetation and surface layers and a further backscatter decline into November was tied to deposition of new wet snow. Spring was found to be the best time of year for distinguishing between the land covers. Five Fine Mode images were used for the second objective. Three were pre-breakup and two were post-breakup. The images show many features indicative of approaching breakup including cracks, shear zones and texture changes from consistently mottled to distinctly patchy with circular, transverse and longitudinal bright features. Ice backscatter declined 2 to 4 dB from three weeks prior to just before breakup. |
author2 |
Martini, I.P. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Murphy, Marley A. |
author_facet |
Murphy, Marley A. |
author_sort |
Murphy, Marley A. |
title |
Characterization of seasonal backscatter change in subarctic wetlands and river ice breakup using Radarsat data |
title_short |
Characterization of seasonal backscatter change in subarctic wetlands and river ice breakup using Radarsat data |
title_full |
Characterization of seasonal backscatter change in subarctic wetlands and river ice breakup using Radarsat data |
title_fullStr |
Characterization of seasonal backscatter change in subarctic wetlands and river ice breakup using Radarsat data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Characterization of seasonal backscatter change in subarctic wetlands and river ice breakup using Radarsat data |
title_sort |
characterization of seasonal backscatter change in subarctic wetlands and river ice breakup using radarsat data |
publisher |
University of Guelph |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10214/22328 |
genre |
Hudson Bay Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Hudson Bay Subarctic |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/10214/22328 |
op_rights |
All items in the Atrium are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
_version_ |
1781699646535499776 |