Investigation of a Hybrid Algorithm for Sea Ice Drift Measurements Using Synthetic Aperture Radar Images

Areal matching by phase correlation and feature tracking are two complementary methods used to measure sea ice drift between synthetic aperture radar images. This paper evaluates a new algorithm that combines the two methods. Areal matching is improved by new methods to handle large motions and rotated ice. It is shown that areal rotation can be resolved using a frequency-domain approach. Image segmentation is a prerequisite for feature tracking and achieved by a new method that performs better than Otsu's method for two-component Gaussian mixture distributions. A circular weighted median filter is found to be suitable for the filtering of the motion field. The algorithm is evaluated through a thorough analysis of the response and sensitivity to various algorithm settings. The accuracy of the algorithm varies by up to 50% for one image pair within the studied range of parameter settings, thus indicating the need for a proper initialization of the algorithm.

[1]  Wolfgang Dierking,et al.  Performance of a multiscale correlation algorithm for the estimation of sea-ice drift from SAR images: initial results , 2011, Annals of Glaciology.

[2]  Moncef Gabbouj,et al.  Weighted median filters: a tutorial , 1996 .

[3]  Shyamal Das Peddada,et al.  Least average residual algorithm (LARA) for tracking the motion of Arctic sea ice , 1996, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[4]  Mani Thomas,et al.  GLOBAL MOTION ESTIMATION OF SEA ICE USING SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR IMAGERY , 2004 .

[5]  Yan Sun,et al.  Automatic ice motion retrieval from ERS-1 SAR images using the optical flow method , 1996 .

[6]  M. Leppäranta.  The drift of sea ice , 2004 .

[7]  Yan Sun,et al.  A new correlation technique for the ice motion analysis , 1994 .

[8]  D. Rothrock,et al.  Sea Ice Tracking by Nested Correlations , 1987, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[9]  Juha Karvonen,et al.  Baltic Sea Ice Concentration Estimation Based on C-Band HH-Polarized SAR Data , 2012, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[10]  E. Forgy,et al.  Cluster analysis of multivariate data : efficiency versus interpretability of classifications , 1965 .

[11]  David A. Clausi,et al.  SAR Sea-Ice Image Analysis Based on Iterative Region Growing Using Semantics , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[12]  M. McGuire.  An image registration technique for recovering rotation, scale and translation parameters , 1998 .

[13]  Jeffrey D. Banfield,et al.  Automated Trackmg of Ice Floes: A Stochastic , 1991 .

[14]  Leif E. B. Eriksson,et al.  Observations and Analysis of Sea Ice Motion with the Ice Buoy DRIVA during the 2010 Spring Field Campaign in the Bay of Bothnia , 2011 .

[15]  Leif Toudal Pedersen,et al.  Monitoring sea ice using Envisat ASAR — A new era starting 10 years ago , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[16]  Walter H. F. Smith,et al.  A global, self‐consistent, hierarchical, high‐resolution shoreline database , 1996 .

[17]  Ron Kwok,et al.  Sea ice motion from satellite passive microwave imagery assessed with ERS SAR and buoy motions , 1998 .

[18]  John C. Curlander,et al.  ψ-s correlation and dynamic time warping: two methods for tracking ice floes in SAR images , 1991, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[19]  Chandra Kambhamettu,et al.  High resolution (400 m) motion characterization of sea ice using ERS-1 SAR imagery , 2008 .

[20]  Ross M. McConnell,et al.  An ice-motion tracking system at the Alaska SAR facility , 1990 .

[21]  Dana H. Ballard,et al.  Computer Vision , 1982 .

[22]  Leif E. B. Eriksson,et al.  SAR Algorithm for Sea Ice Concentration—Evaluation for the Baltic Sea , 2012, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[23]  David A. Clausi,et al.  Unsupervised segmentation of synthetic aperture Radar sea ice imagery using a novel Markov random field model , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[24]  N. Otsu.  A threshold selection method from gray level histograms , 1979 .

[25]  J. Laurie Snell,et al.  Markov Random Fields and Their Applications , 1980 .

[26]  William J. Emery,et al.  Fram Strait satellite image‐derived ice motions , 1991 .

[27]  Filiberto Pla,et al.  Estimating Translation/Deformation Motion through Phase Correlation , 1997, ICIAP.

[28]  J. Karvonen,et al.  Operational SAR-based sea ice drift monitoring over the Baltic Sea , 2012 .