A Comprehensive Database for Antarctic Iceberg Tracking Using Scatterometer Data

This paper describes the development of, and the methodology for, a new, consolidated Brigham Young University (BYU)/National Ice Center (NIC) Antarctic iceberg tracking database. The new database combines daily positional data from the original BYU daily iceberg tracking database derived from scatterometers, and the NIC's weekly Antarctic iceberg tracking database derived mostly from optical and infrared sensors. Interpolation methods and statistical analyses of iceberg locations are discussed. A new, automated method of using positional data and scatterometer backscatter images to estimate sizes and rotational patterns of icebergs is also developed. This information is included in the new database.

[1]  David G. Long,et al.  A Decade of QuikSCAT Scatterometer Sea Ice Extent Data , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[2]  Andrew W. Fitzgibbon,et al.  Direct least squares fitting of ellipses , 1996, Proceedings of 13th International Conference on Pattern Recognition.

[3]  David G. Long,et al.  An iterative approach to multisensor sea ice classification , 2000, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[4]  P. Mahalanobis On the generalized distance in statistics , 1936 .

[5]  Andrew W. Fitzgibbon,et al.  Direct Least Square Fitting of Ellipses , 1999, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[6]  Jean Tournadre,et al.  Large icebergs characteristics from altimeter waveforms analysis , 2015 .

[7]  David G. Long,et al.  Polar Applications of Spaceborne Scatterometers , 2017, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[8]  A. Savitzky,et al.  Smoothing and Differentiation of Data by Simplified Least Squares Procedures. , 1964 .

[9]  David G. Long,et al.  Tracking large tabular icebergs using the SeaWinds Ku-band microwave scatterometer , 2011 .

[10]  David G. Long,et al.  Is the number of Antarctic icebergs really increasing , 2002 .

[11]  David G. Long,et al.  Global ice and land climate studies using scatterometer image data , 2001 .

[12]  D. Cakmakov,et al.  Shape matching of digital curves , 2005, ISPA 2005. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Image and Signal Processing and Analysis, 2005..

[13]  David G. Long,et al.  Image reconstruction and enhanced resolution imaging from irregular samples , 2001, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[14]  David G. Long,et al.  Calving and ice-shelf break-up processes investigated by proxy: Antarctic tabular iceberg evolution during northward drift , 2008 .

[15]  Nilanjan Ray,et al.  Image thresholding by variational minimax optimization , 2009, Pattern Recognit..

[16]  Läslo Evers,et al.  Remote hydroacoustic sensing of large icebergs in the southern Indian Ocean: Implications for iceberg monitoring , 2013 .

[17]  R. E. Carlson,et al.  Monotone Piecewise Cubic Interpolation , 1980 .

[18]  Maria Vernet,et al.  Phytoplankton composition and abundance in relation to free-floating Antarctic icebergs , 2011 .

[19]  J. Steinier,et al.  Smoothing and differentiation of data by simplified least square procedure. , 1972, Analytical chemistry.

[20]  Christine Wesche,et al.  Iceberg signatures and detection in SAR images in two test regions of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica , 2012 .