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Analysis of multi-dimensional SAR for determining the thickness of thin sea ice in the Bohai Sea

  • Physics
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Abstract

Flat thin ice (<30 cm thick) is a common ice type in the Bohai Sea, China. Ice thickness detection is important to offshore exploration and marine transport in winter. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can be used to acquire sea ice data in all weather conditions, and it is a useful tool for monitoring sea ice conditions. In this paper, we combine a multi-layered sea ice electromagnetic (EM) scattering model with a sea ice thermodynamic model to assess the determination of the thickness of flat thin ice in the Bohai Sea using SAR at different frequencies, polarization, and incidence angles. Our modeling studies suggest that co-polarization backscattering coefficients and the co-polarized ratio can be used to retrieve the thickness of flat thin ice from C- and X-band SAR, while the co-polarized correlation coefficient can be used to retrieve flat thin ice thickness from L-, C-, and X-band SAR. Importantly, small or moderate incidence angles should be chosen to avoid the effect of speckle noise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Xi Zhang  (张晰), Jie Zhang  (张杰), Junmin Meng  (孟俊敏) & Tengfei Su  (苏腾飞)

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  1. Xi Zhang  (张晰)
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  2. Jie Zhang  (张杰)
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  3. Junmin Meng  (孟俊敏)
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  4. Tengfei Su  (苏腾飞)
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Correspondence to Xi Zhang  (张晰).

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Supported by the Major Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 60890075) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Young Scientists (No. 40906093)

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Zhang, X., Zhang, J., Meng, J. et al. Analysis of multi-dimensional SAR for determining the thickness of thin sea ice in the Bohai Sea. Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 31, 681–698 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-013-2057-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-013-2057-7

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