TY - JOUR
T1 - Instantaneous sea ice drift speed from TanDEM-X interferometry
AU - Oliver Dammann, Dyre
AU - Eriksson, Leif E.B.
AU - Jones, Joshua M.
AU - Mahoney, Andrew R.
AU - Romeiser, Roland
AU - Meyer, Franz J.
AU - Eicken, Hajo
AU - Fukamachi, Yasushi
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. This work was supported by the Swedish National Space Agency (Dnr 192/15). TanDEM-X data were provided free of charge by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) through a science proposal (XTI_GLAC6921). Sentinel-1 data are provided free of charge by the European Union Copernicus program and were accessed through the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF). The mooring observations by Utqiag˙vik were supported by Arctic Research for Sustainability (ArCS) Project and Grant in Aid for Scientific Research 15H03721 from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. We thank Bill Hauer at ASF, Thomas Busche at DLR, and David Duncan and Anis Elyouncha at Chalmers University of Technology for their valuable support and guidance. We thank two reviewers, including Wolfgang Dierking, for substantially improving the paper.
PY - 2019/4/29
Y1 - 2019/4/29
N2 - The drift of sea ice is an important geophysical process with widespread implications for the ocean energy budget and ecosystems. Drifting sea ice can also threaten marine operations and present a hazard for ocean vessels and installations. Here, we evaluate single-pass along-track synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (S-ATI) as a tool to assess ice drift while discussing possible applications and inherent limitations. Initial validation shows that TanDEM-X phase-derived drift speed corresponds well with drift products from a ground-based radar at Utqia?gvik, Alaska. Joint analysis of TanDEM-X and Sentinel-1 data covering the Fram Strait demonstrates that S-ATI can help quantify the opening/closing rate of leads with possible applications for navigation. S-ATI enables an instantaneous assessment of ice drift and dynamic processes that are otherwise difficult to observe. For instance, by evaluating sea ice drift through the Vilkitsky Strait, Russia, we identified short-lived transient convergence patterns. We conclude that S-ATI enables the identification and analysis of potentially important dynamic processes (e.g., drift, rafting, and ridging). However, current limitations of S-ATI are significant (e.g., data availability and they presently only provide the cross-track vector component of the ice drift field) but may be significantly reduced with future SAR systems.
AB - The drift of sea ice is an important geophysical process with widespread implications for the ocean energy budget and ecosystems. Drifting sea ice can also threaten marine operations and present a hazard for ocean vessels and installations. Here, we evaluate single-pass along-track synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (S-ATI) as a tool to assess ice drift while discussing possible applications and inherent limitations. Initial validation shows that TanDEM-X phase-derived drift speed corresponds well with drift products from a ground-based radar at Utqia?gvik, Alaska. Joint analysis of TanDEM-X and Sentinel-1 data covering the Fram Strait demonstrates that S-ATI can help quantify the opening/closing rate of leads with possible applications for navigation. S-ATI enables an instantaneous assessment of ice drift and dynamic processes that are otherwise difficult to observe. For instance, by evaluating sea ice drift through the Vilkitsky Strait, Russia, we identified short-lived transient convergence patterns. We conclude that S-ATI enables the identification and analysis of potentially important dynamic processes (e.g., drift, rafting, and ridging). However, current limitations of S-ATI are significant (e.g., data availability and they presently only provide the cross-track vector component of the ice drift field) but may be significantly reduced with future SAR systems.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065308735&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85065308735&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5194/tc-13-1395-2019
DO - 10.5194/tc-13-1395-2019
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85065308735
VL - 13
SP - 1395
EP - 1408
JO - Cryosphere
JF - Cryosphere
SN - 1994-0416
IS - 4
ER -