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Each
of the ERS-1 SAR stripes (acquired at the Tromsø Satellite Station), which
are 500 km long and 100 km wide, covers the same geographical area in the ice
edge region between 76º and 80ºN (see map
).
The series of images shows how the ice edge location and ice edge features change in the period from January 4 to 19, 1992. In this period R/V "Håkon Mosby" undertook oceanographic investigations in the area. SAR images were the only data capable of providing accurate ice edge location in a period of almost no daylight. Therefore SAR images transmitted to the ship in near real-time were used to plan the ships tracks near the ice edge.
Without SAR images R/V "Håkon Mosby" would not have been able to operate close to the ice edge. In the period the wind conditions were variable (see figure ), including storm events with wind speeds above 25 m/s. During SE winds the ice edge was pushed towards east. On January 10
the wind was 20 m/s from SE and most of the edge was located west of the image. From January 10 to January 13
the wind was northerly and then southerly resulting in a more eastward location of the edge. On January 16
the wind direction from NNW is seen in open ocean as streamers oriented parallel to the wind. Three days, i.e. on January 19
later westerly winds had made the ice edge very diffuse.
The rapid change in edge location and detailed ice features which is characteristic for this area, could only be observed by a time series of SAR images.
NERSC, Bergen, Norway
Keywords: ESA European Space Agency - Agence spatiale europeenne, observation de la terre, earth observation, satellite remote sensing, teledetection, geophysique, altimetrie, radar, chimique atmospherique, geophysics, altimetry, radar, atmospheric chemistry