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Winter navigation in the Northern Sea Route using RADARSAT data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Vitali Yu. Alexandrov ,
Stein Sandven ,
Ola M. Johannessen ,
Lasse H. Pettersson  and
Øyvind Dalen
Vitali Yu. Alexandrov
Affiliation:
Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Korpusnaya Street 18, 197042 St Petersburg, Russia
Stein Sandven
Affiliation:
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Edvard Griegsvei 3a, N-5059 Bergen, Norway
Ola M. Johannessen
Affiliation:
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Edvard Griegsvei 3a, N-5059 Bergen, Norway
Lasse H. Pettersson
Affiliation:
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Edvard Griegsvei 3a, N-5059 Bergen, Norway
Øyvind Dalen
Affiliation:
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Edvard Griegsvei 3a, N-5059 Bergen, Norway
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Abstract

The results are presented of the first winter ice navigation demonstration, using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from the Canadian satellite RADARSAT, onboard the nuclear icebreaker Sovetskiy Soyuz in the Kara Sea region in April–May 1998. While ERS SAR data only could cover part of the sea ice in this large area, the demonstration showed that RADARSAT ScanSAR images with 100 m pixel size could be used to map all relevant ice areas with a few 500 × 500 km scenes. SAR images transferred onboard icebreakers in near real time offer an excellent possibility to select optimal sailing routes in difficult ice conditions such as those that were encountered by this expedition. SAR images were also used for planning of operations prior to the expedition. This study compares sub-satellite sea-ice observations with RADARSAT SAR as well as Okean side-looking radar (SLR) signatures of the major ice types and features found in the Kara Sea during winter. Wide-swath SAR images will become available from several new satellites in the near future, such as Envisat, scheduled in 2001, and RADARSAT-2, in 2002. Satellite SAR images will therefore play an increasingly important role in operational ice monitoring both in the Northern Sea Route and in other ice areas.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 36 , Issue 199 , October 2000 , pp. 335 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

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