Automatic detection of icebergs in satellite images is regarded a useful tool to provide information necessary for safety in Arctic shipping or operations over large ocean areas in near-real time. In this work, we investigated the feasibility of automatic iceberg detection in Sentinel-1 Extra Wide Swath (EWS) SAR images which follow the preferred image mode in operational ice charting. As test region, ...

In this study, we pursue two objectives: first, we compare six different “constant false alarm rate” (CFAR) algorithms for iceberg detection in SAR images, and second, we investigate the effect of radar frequency by comparing the detection performance at C- and L-band. The SAR images were acquired over the Labrador Sea under melting conditions. In an overlapping optical Sentinel-2 image, 492 icebergs ...

The objective of this note is to provide the background and basic tools to estimate the statistical error of deformation parameters that are calculated from displacement fields retrieved from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery or from location changes of position sensors in an array. We focus here specifically on sea ice drift and deformation. In the most general case, the uncertainties of ...

We present a comprehensive review of the current status of remotely sensed and in situ sea ice, ocean, and land parameters acquired over the Arctic and Antarctic and identify current data gaps through comparison with the portfolio of products provided by Copernicus services. While we include several land parameters, the focus of our review is on the marine sector. The analysis is facilitated by the ...

An unusual, large, latent-heat polynya opened and then closed by freezing and convergence north of Greenland’s coast in late winter 2018. The closing presented a natural but well-constrained full-scale ice deformation experiment. We observed the closing of and deformation within the polynya with satellite synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) imagery and measured the accumulated effects of dynamic ...

Retrievals of sea ice drift from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images at high spatial resolution are valuable for understanding kinematic behavior and deformation processes of the ice at different spatial scales. Ice deformation causes temporal changes in patterns observed in sequences of SAR images; which makes it difficult to retrieve ice displacement with algorithms based on correlation and ...

Inhomogenities in the sea ice motion field cause deformation zones, such as leads, cracks and pressure ridges. Due to their long and often narrow shape, those structures are referred to as Linear Kinematic Features (LKFs). In this paper we specifically address the identification and characterization of variations and discontinuities in the spatial distribution of the total deformation, which ...

This paper provides an overview of the Dragon 4 project dealing with operational monitoring of sea ice and sea surface salinity (SSS) and new product developments for altimetry data. To improve sea ice thickness retrieval, a new method was developed to match the Cryosat-2 radar waveform. Additionally, an automated sea ice drift detection scheme was developed and tested on Sentinel-1 data, and the ...

Sea ice monitoring by polar orbiting satellites has been developed over more than four decades and is today one of the most well-established applications of space observations. This article gives an overview of data product development from the first sensors to the state-of-the-art regarding retrieval methods, new products and operational data sets serving climate monitoring as well as daily operational ...