Microwave observation of sea ice in the Greenland Sea in 1996

Leif Toudal		Danish Center for Remote Sensing, Building 348, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark ltpemi.dtu.dk http://www.dcrs.dtu.dk

Abstract

1996 saw the return of the Odden ice feature in the Greenland Sea after an absence of two years. The development of the feature is studied on different scales using a combination of active and passive microwave instruments, supplemented by visual and infrared images from the NOAA-AVHRR.

Large scale mapping of the feature is carried out using data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) microwave radiometer. The SSM/I maps the Greenland Sea several times pr. day with a spatial resolution coarser than 15 kilometers. An algorithm that allows the use of the 85 GHz polarization difference to enhance the spatial resolution has been developed and applied to the Greenland Sea.

Detailed observations of the ice conditions is obtained using the ERS-1 and ERS-2 SAR. The SAR data provides information about ice types and ice motion within the Odden Ice tongue. A hypothesis about ice advection from the East Greenland Current into the Greenland Sea/Odden area in April/May 1996 is investigated using sequences of ERS-1/2 SAR images. Both the 3-day repeat of ERS-1 (at 72 degrees North) and the 1-day repeat of ERS-1/2 is utilized in this study.

Large scale advection of ice from the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard is investigated using thermal infrared data from the NOAA-AVHRR.

Keywords: Greenland Sea, Sea Ice, SAR, Microwave radiometry, NOAA-AVHRR

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