Mapping icebergs in sea ice: An analysis of seasonal SAR backscatter at C- and L-band
Icebergs in the Arctic can pose a threat to maritime traffic and offshore installations and influence the properties of the upper ocean layer. While icebergs in open water are regularly monitored using C-band SAR satellites, less attention has been paid to icebergs in regions with a high areal fract...
| Published in: | Remote Sensing of Environment |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/34409 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114074 |
| Summary: | Icebergs in the Arctic can pose a threat to maritime traffic and offshore installations and influence the properties of the upper ocean layer. While icebergs in open water are regularly monitored using C-band SAR satellites, less attention has been paid to icebergs in regions with a high areal fraction of sea ice, where detection using traditional methods is more difficult. In this study, we compare the capability of C- and L-band SAR to detect icebergs in level and deformed fast sea ice across various seasons. To this end we use a timeseries of SAR images acquired at HH- and HV-polarization in 2019 and 2020, covering respectively 301 and 356 icebergs. As reference data for validation, we used iceberg polygons derived from Sentinel-2 images. Our results reveal that compared to C-band, L-band SAR is significantly better at separating the backscatter of icebergs and sea ice and thus is preferable for detecting icebergs in ocean regions with a high sea ice concentration. It is further shown that L-band SAR is less affected by melting conditions, suggesting that it can be used for iceberg detections in both summer and winter. |
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