Analysis of time series of polarimetric sea ice signatures observed in fast ice it the Belgica Bank area

Abstract

The CIRFA-Cruise 2022 with <i>RV Kronprins Haakon</i> to the north-eastern coast of Greenland in the period April 22nd to May 9th 2022 was organised to perform measurements and make observations which allow for validation of sea ice remote sensing information and forecast products resulting from work in the Centre for Integrated Remote Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic Operations(CIRFA), a Centre for Research-based Innovation at UiT the Arctic University of Norway. This paper uses data collected during the cruise to investigate questions related to the interpretation and temporal consistency of polarimetric features computed from a series of quad-pol Radarsat-2 (RS-2) images, which was collected over a fast ice site in the Belgica Bank area in the western Fram Strait. The CIRFA-2022 Cruise team visited this fast ice site in the end of April 2022. The time series covers the transition from cold winter conditions in April to melting in mid June. This transition impacts radar backscattering, as can be clearly seen in the Pauli decomposition of quad-pol images.