Satellite SAR remote sensing of Great Lakes ice cover using RADARSAT data
- NOAA/Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab., Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
- CIT/Jet Propulsion Lab., Pasadena, CA (United States)
During winter months, cloud cover over the Laurentian Great Lakes impairs the use of satellite imagery from passive sensors operating in the visible, near infrared, and thermal infrared spectra for ice cover monitoring and analysis. The all-weather, day/night viewing capability of satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) makes it a unique and valuable tool for Great Lakes ice identification and mapping providing that data analysis techniques and capability for using SAR data in an operational setting are developed. RADARSAT, an operational satellite carrying a SAR operating at 5.3 GHz (C-Band) with a horizontal polarization, was successfully launched in 1995. This study explores algorithms for Great Lakes ice cover classification and mapping using RADARSAT SAR data. Preliminary analysis of a ScanSAR Narrow scene of western Lake Superior using a supervised (level slicing) classification technique indicates that different ice types in the ice cover can be identified and mapped and that wind has a strong influence on the backscatter from open water. However, further research needs to be conducted on the repeatability and automation of classification and interpretation from scene to scene. During the 1997 winter season, an experiment is planned to acquire shipborne polarimetric backscatter data using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) C-band scatterometer together with surface-based ice physical characterization measurements and environmental parameters coincident with RADARSAT overpass.
- OSTI ID:
- 478125
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970319-; TRN: 97:002802-0018
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 4. thematic international conference on remote sensing for marine and coastal environments: technology and applications, Orlando, FL (United States), 17-19 Mar 1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the fourth international conference on remote sensing for marine and coastal environments. Technology and applications: Volume I; PB: 741 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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