OPERATIONAL SEA-ICE CLASSIFICATION FROM SYNTHETIC-APERTURE RADAR IMAGERY

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery from the ERS-1 satellite are used for sea ice analysis at the Navy/NOAA Joint Ice Center (JIC). SAR data are processed at the Alaska SAR Facility (ASF), then digitally relayed to the JIC in Washington, D.C. A sea ice classification algorithm, backscatter-based look-up table, is used to examine sea ice during all seasons and at different locations in the ASF station mask. Encouraging operational results are shown for sea ice forecasting and routine sea ice analysis applications. Economies in both time and fuel are realized from the first ship routing program traversing portions of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Multiyear, second-year, and false multi-year ice classifications in ''frost flower'' covered areas are examined. Discrimination between open ocean and new ice by Bragg wave damping is discussed as are first-year ice classification ambiguities.