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Semi-automated feature-tracking of East Antarctic sea ice from Envisat ASAR imagery
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 10:37 authored by Alan Giles, Robert MassomRobert Massom, Petra HeilPetra Heil, Glenn HylandGlenn HylandWhile feature tracking of sea ice using cross-correlation methods on pairs of satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images has been extensively carried out in the Arctic, this is not the case in the Antarctic. This is due to the dynamic nature of Antarctic pack ice, its microwave signature, the tendency for SAR swath paths to be poorly aligned with the often narrow sea ice zone around the continent and inadequate satellite sampling. A semi-automated system, known as IPADS (IMCORR [IMageCORRelation] Processing, Analysis and Display System), has been developed to map fast ice and pack ice in Antarctica using multiple pairs of SAR images. The software processing pipeline uses overlapping image pairswhich are geocoded and roughly registered using only data contained in the image headers. Next, fast icemaps are rapidly generated using zeromotion features located within ocean regions. This also provides precise image registration. Finally, the same image pairs are re-examined for pack ice motion in a slower off-line batch process. The pack and fast ice are identified using a cluster-based search method which compares both location and motion information. Each image pair generates a NetCDF file which adds to a growing database of Antarctic sea ice motion and ice roughness. Five image-pair examples are presented to illustrate themethods used aswell as their strengths and limitations. Substantial pack icemotion can often be detected in the marginal ice zone on SAR images only a few days apart.
History
Publication title
Remote Sensing of EnvironmentVolume
115Issue
9Pagination
2267-2276ISSN
0034-4257Department/School
Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesPublisher
Elsevier Science IncPlace of publication
360 Park Ave South, New York, USA, Ny, 10010-1710Rights statement
The definitive version is available at http://www.sciencedirect.comRepository Status
- Restricted