New methods for detecting dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of sea ice from radar remote sensing

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dc.contributor.authorKomarov, Alexander
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeMojabi, Puyan (Electrical and Computer Engineering) Ehn, Jens (Environment and Geography) Dierking, Wolfgang (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research)en_US
dc.contributor.supervisorShafai, Lotfollah (Electrical and Computer Engineering) Barber, David (Environment and Geography)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-01-14T22:03:01Z
dc.date.available2015-01-14T22:03:01Z
dc.date.issued2014-01en_US
dc.date.issued2014-02en_US
dc.date.issued2014en_US
dc.degree.disciplineElectrical and Computer Engineeringen_US
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation presents new methods for detecting dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of Arctic sea ice using radar remote sensing. A new technique for sea ice motion detection from sequential satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images was developed and thoroughly validated. The accuracy of the system is 0.43 km obtained from a comparison between SAR-derived ice motion vectors and in-situ sea ice beacon trajectories. For the first time, we evaluated ice motion tracking results derived from co-polarization (HH) and cross-polarization (HV) channels of RADARSAT-2 ScanSAR imagery and formulated a condition where the HV channel is more reliable than the HH channel for ice motion tracking. Sea ice motion is substantially controlled by surface winds. Two new models for ocean surface wind speed retrieval from C-band SAR data have been developed and validated based on a large body of statistics on buoy observations collocated and coincided with RADARSAT-1 and -2 ScanSAR images. The proposed models without wind direction input demonstrated a better accuracy than conventionally used algorithms. As a combination of the developed methods we designed a wind speed-ice motion product which can be a useful tool for studying sea ice dynamics processes in the marginal ice zone. To effectively asses the thermodynamic properties of sea ice advanced tools for modeling electromagnetic (EM) wave scattering from rough natural surfaces are required. In this dissertation we present a new analytical formulation for EM wave scattering from rough boundaries interfacing inhomogeneous media based on the first-order approximation of the small perturbation method. Available solutions in the literature represent special cases of our general solution. The developed scattering theory was applied to experimental data collected at three stations (with different snow thicknesses) in the Beaufort Sea from the research icebreaker Amundsen during the Circumpolar Flaw Lead system study. Good agreement between the model and experimental data were observed for all three case studies. Both model and experimental radar backscatter coefficients were considerably higher for thin snow cover (4 cm) compared to the thick snow cover case (16 cm). Our findings suggest that, winter snow thickness retrieval may be possible from radar observations under particular scattering conditions.en_US
dc.description.noteFebruary 2015en_US
dc.identifier.citationA. S. Komarov and D. G. Barber, “Sea ice motion tracking from sequential dual-polarization RADARSAT-2 images IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 121-136, Jan. 2014.en_US
dc.identifier.citationA. S. Komarov, V. Zabeline, and D. G. Barber, “Ocean surface wind speed retrieval from C-band SAR images without wind direction input,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 980-990, Feb. 2014.en_US
dc.identifier.citationA. S. Komarov, L. Shafai, and D. G. Barber, “Electromagnetic wave scattering from rough boundaries interfacing inhomogeneous media and application to snow-covered sea ice,” Progress in Electromagnetic Research, vol. 144, pp. 201-219, 2014.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/30225
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineersen_US
dc.publisherThe Electromagnetics Academyen_US
dc.rightsopen accessen_US
dc.subjectArctic sea iceen_US
dc.subjectsynthetic aperture radaren_US
dc.subjectsea ice motionen_US
dc.subjectocean surface wind speeden_US
dc.subjectelectromagnetic wave scatteringen_US
dc.subjectmodelingen_US
dc.subjectsnow on sea iceen_US
dc.titleNew methods for detecting dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of sea ice from radar remote sensingen_US
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
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