BUSINESS PROCESS 

SD, SC, SCE, IN, SO

DESCRIPTION

Sea ice moves through several stages developing in different types of ice depending on time and environmental conditions. A classification of sea ice stage development is used for operational purposes using the age of the ice as a proxy for its thickness. Specific terms such as new ice, nilas, young ice, and multiyear ice are used in the shipping sector for each stage of sea ice development.

EO INFORMATION OF INTEREST

Detection of categories of sea ice developments/types, including open water, first year ice, multiple year ice, ambiguously, unclassified ice.

MAIN PROCESS STEPS

Raw satellite data undergo preprocessing to correct for atmospheric effects, sensor noise, and geometric distortions. Calibration ensures that measurements are accurate and consistent.

Satellite SAR data play a crucial role in sea ice classification, algorithms classify ice types (e.g., multiyear ice, first-year ice, open water) based on backscatter properties of polarimetric SAR signature (also using neural networks).

Sea ice classification can be also retrieved based on analysis of emissivity spectra from microwave sensors.

INPUT DATA SOURCE

RADARSAT-2 and RADARSAT (Canada), Sentinel-1A and -1B (EU), Gaofen-3 (China),

AMSR2 and ERA 5

SPATIAL RESOLUTION AND COVERAGE

RADARSAT and Sentinel-1 spatial resolution below 100 m ground resolution and regional coverage (e.g., up to 500 km by 500 km); Gaofen 3 Stripmap I (QPSI) with 30 km ground swath and 8 m nominal resolution. To summarize, the final resolution ranges between 8 and 100 meters, while the swath extent ranges between 30 km up to 500 km.

ACCURACY / CONSTRAINS

Accuracy varies based on sensor type, resolution, algorithms, and validation efforts. Researchers continually refine methods to enhance accuracy. Tests of Gaofen-3 (C-band) SAR report accuracy > 0.90 for open water (OW), new ice (NI), young ice (YI), and first-year ice (FYI).

LIMITATIONS

Currently limited to few categories (open water, new ice, and first-year ice, multiple years ice).

The interpretation of data can indeed be challenging, especially when handled by personnel without extensive experience in the field. 

TEMPORAL RESOLUTION

Daily for opensource data, more images per day using commercial satellite

e.g. SAR image 1 per day (Sentinel-1), more images per day under request (RADARSAT, Gaofen-3)

FREQUENCY UPDATE

Sea ice classes updated on weekly (or longer) intervals

DELIVERY / OUTPUT FORMAT

NetCDF-3, NetCDF-4

ACCESSIBILITY

Copernicus Maritime Service and Artic hub and other commercial satellite data providers