ERS-1 Observations of Sea Ice in the North East Water Polynya

Abstract

Interpretation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data of sea ice, requires knowledge of the backscatter coefficient of various ice types. Of particular importance is the influence of temporal effects and their relation to the weather conditions.

The North East Water Polynya (NEWP) has been studied remotely using SAR scenes from the European ERS-1 satellite. Scenes have been acquired as either Precision Resolution Images (PRI) or as Fast Delivery Products in low resolution (UILR). Meteorological observations from an automatic weather station operated by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), have also been acquired.

The temporal variations in the backscatter coefficient of various ice types under summer and winter conditions will be presented. The variation will be related to the meteorological observations and the variations in the radar parameters.

The NEWP is strongly influenced by the ocean currents, which during the winter period will give raise to form large areas of new ice as observed in the SAR scenes. The forming of new ice and the related backscatter coefficients are discussed in context of other experimental results.

Keywords: North East Water Polynya, Sea Ice, SAR

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