Monitoring of Sea Ice and
Ice Sheets
Kaycee Coleman
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http://technology.jpl.nasa.gov/research/ResearchTopics/topicd
etails/?ID=42
http://www.flightsafrica.co.uk/blog_images/cruise_ship_iceburg.jpg
Importance of
Monitoring Sea
Ice
•Fisheries
•Ships
•Offshore Operations
•Climate Change
Some History
For over 100 year sea ice has
been monitored from stations
and ships
Until the 1980’s the main method
of keeping track of sea ice was
by using Aircraft Surveys
Over the last three decades they
have used satellites
International Ice Patrol (IIP) is a
branch of the United States
Coast Guard, they use flight data
and satellite data to warm
mariners about icebergs
Ice Monitoring
Satellites
Radarsat-1
Radarsat-2
ENVISAT
GRACE
The Future…
Crysat
NASA ICE Bridge
Radarsat-1
http://www.icebergfinder.com/technology.aspx
 Satellite-based synthetic aperture radar
(SAR). With SAR the distance ot the target
is usually about 800km, but reflections can
come from anything.
 Icebergs are harder to find because they
absorb a lot of the energy being sent out
which makes they easier to distinguish
from ships from a processed image
because they appear duller
 Launched in 1995
Trade off between resolution and area
(highest resolution is 8 meters and the
smallest image area of 50 km x 50 km)
Radarsat-1 Iceberg detection, confirmed by ships
http://www.icebergfinder.com/technology.aspx
http://www.icebergfinder.com/technology.aspx
Radarsat-2
http://www.radarsat2.info/application/i
ce/index.asp
 Launched Dec. 14, 2007
 Frequencies: C Band SAR AntennaTransmit & Receive Channel: 5405
MHz (assigned bandwidth 100,540
kHz). X Band Downlink Channel 18105 MHz (assigned bandwidth
61,230 kHz). And X Band Downlink
Channel 2-8230 MHz (assigned
bandwidth 61,230 kHz)
 Obrit: polar, sun-synchronous orbit
 Period: 101 minutes.
 Improved ice edge detection, ice
type discrimination and ice
topography and structure
information due to multi-polarization
options
 Swath Width increased from
Radarsat-1
Radarsat-2
http://www.radarsat2.info/appli
cation/ice/eoadp2_img.asp
 Useful for sea and river
ice
 By merging threechannel (HH+VV+HV)
they are able to see sea
ice, open water, and land
 HV:HH ratio provides a
relative measure of
volume scattering (HV)
vs. surface scattering
(HH)
HH
Enhanced
Ice Type
HV
Enhanced
Ice Edges
H/A/Entropy/anistro
py/ alpha angle.
Result of five
iterations
Quic kTime™ and a
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ENVISAT
http://envisat.esa.int/category/index.cfm?fcategoryid=87
 Launched March 2002 by the European
Space Agency (ESA)
 Maps the extent of ice cover
 It is an advanced polar-orbiting satellite
that specializes in measurements of the
atmosphere, ocean, land, and ice.
 Iceberg detection by ASAR (advanced
synthetic aperture radar), which uses
different polarizations and a form of
electromagnetic radiation. ASAR uses C
band
 Has a resolution of 25 meters and
coverage area of 100 km by 100 km
 The Polar Platform (PPF) started in 1990.
They first started off with The Polar
Orbiting Earth Mission (POEM-1) but this
was eventually broken up in 1993 into
ENVISAT to look at the environment and
METOP-1 to monitor the meteorology.
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ENVISAT
http://envisat.esa.int/category/index.cfm?fcategory
id=61
Sun-synchronous polar orbit,
800km altitude, repeat cycle 35
days, 98.55° inclination
Since it has wide swath
instruments it can provide
complete coverage of the globe
in 1-3 days!
Two X-bands, and Two Ka-bands
operating independently so can
be used simultaneously.
ENVISAT Alternating
Polarization
https://bora.uib.no/bitstream/1956/1135/1/MRS_Chapter8-proof.pdf
Like Radarsat-2, it has dual
polarization combinations of HH,
VV, and HV. The crosspolarization can be limiting for
ice with low backscatter (like
new thin ice in open water).
The co-polarization ratio (VV/HH)
are best for discriminating ice
from open water. This is also
good for detection of ridges, and
to determine level ice from
deformed ice.
http://www.eurimage.com/products/envisat.html
ASAR Stripmap
(Image) Mode
ASAR Wide
Swath Mode
(VV or HH)
Alternating
Polarization (VV
or HH)
ICE
ASAR
http://envisat.esa.int/category/index.cfm?fcategoryid=88
GOMOS
RA-2
MERIS
Sea Ice
Mapping
X
X
X
Sea Ice
Motion
X
X
X
Sea Ice
Processes
X
Ship
Routing
X
MIPAS
MWR
LR
SCIA
AATSR
DORIS
(X)
X
Temp.
Snow
Cover
X
X
Topogr.
X
X
Ice Sheet
Dynamic
X
X
X
X
X
(X)
X
GRACE
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http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/mission/flight_config.html
GRACE
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
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QuickTime™ and a
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Tellus- monitors the change in the mass of
hydrologic components (the properties/movement
of Earth’s water). Most corrections are already
applied and it has user friendly grids
 Monitor mass loss of ice sheets such as in Greenland
and Antarctica.
 Looks at exchange of water between ice sheets,
glaciers, and the oceans
http://grace.jpl.nasa.gov/
The Future of Ice
Monitoring….
Cryosat-2
NASA Ice Bridge
Cryosat-2
http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Cryosat/SEMZT6W0EZF_0.html
 Also part of ESA’s Earth Observation
Program
 Cryosat was lost before its initial
contact in 2005
 Target launch will be Feb. 28 2010
(it was suppose to be December of
this year)
 Cryosat-2 will observe ice thickness
and how it is changing, which is not
something that is currently done.
So this research will be a break
through in the study of global
warming.
 Cryosat-2 will help explain the
melting of polar ice in correlation
with rising sea surface heights.
 Ice on land (Ice sheets) can be up
to 5km while ice in the ocean could
only be a few meters.
Cryosat-2
http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Cryosat/SEMFJ4908BE_0.html#subhead1
Will have an unusually
high polar orbit (2
degrees short of true
North). This will maximize
its coverage of the poles
One of the main
instruments onboard is a
Synthetic Aperture
Interferometric Radar
Altimeter (SIRAL). This is
the first sensor of its kind
that is specially made for
ice.
NASA ICE Bridge
http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/science/contenthandler.cfm?id=1932
 ICESat stands for Ice, Cloud and Land
Elevation Satellite
 ICESat-II won’t launch until 2014 at the
earliest
 Operation Ice bridge is a 6 year mission to
make up for lost time and information
 NASA outfitted a DC-8 jetliner with various
sensors including ones that were not on the
original ICESat. The jet flies out of Punta
Arenas Chile crossing West Antarctica and
the Antarctic Peninsula. It will crisscross ice
shelves, sea ice, glaciers and the massive
western ice sheet collecting critical data for
researchers. http://www.i-cool.org/?cat=21
 Palmer
Station,
Antarctica
Oct. 31 2009
Questions?
Thank You
References:
Tina Haskins < http://www.i-cool.org/?cat=21>
http://technology.jpl.nasa.gov/research/ResearchTopics/topicdetails/?ID=42
http://www.flightsafrica.co.uk/blog_images/cruise_ship_iceburg.jpg
http://www.icebergfinder.com/technology.aspx
http://www.radarsat2.info/application/ice/index
http://envisat.esa.int/category/index.cfm?fcategoryid=87
https://bora.uib.no/bitstream/1956/1135/1/MRS_Chapter8-proof.pdf
http://www.eurimage.com/products/envisat.html
http://envisat.esa.int/category/index.cfm?fcategoryid=88
http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/mission/flight_config.html
http://grace.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Cryosat/SEMZT6W0EZF_0.html
http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/science/contenthandler.cfm?id=1932