Ice thickness derived from high‐resolution radar imagery

Abstract

A new analysis makes it possible to produce basin‐scale estimates of sea ice age and thickness from observations of ice motion in radar images of the Arctic Ocean. Anticipated from sequential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery over a series of winters are Arcticwide fields of ice motion and estimates of ice age and thickness. This analysis technique is implemented in the RADARSAT Geophysical Processor System (RGPS),a data processing system dedicated to analyzing large volumes of SAR imagery of sea ice [Kwok, 1998]. Currently, we have only crude estimates on how much ice there is, how it varies in space and time, where ice is produced and where it melts, and how rapidly it is transported from place to place. SAR provides an amazingly detailed look at sea ice, but the level of detail is so great that it is not at first apparent how to utilize the data for improving sea ice data sets and models.