Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:23:03.026Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexandrov, V., Loshchilov, V., and Provorkin, A.. 1996. Issledovaniye aysbergov i mirskikh Idov Antarktike po dannym PCA sputnika ‘Almaz-1’ [Studies of icebergs and sea ice in the Antarctic with the use of ‘ALMAZ-1’ SAR images]. In: Popov, I.K., and Voyevodin, V.A. (editors). Aysbergi mirovogo okeana [Icebergs of the world ocean]. St Petersburg: Gidrometeoizdat: 30–36.Google Scholar
Alexandrov, V., Sandven, S., Lundhaug, M., Dalen, O., Bogdanov, A., and Kloster, K.. 1999. Analysis of winter sea ice in the Kara Sea region using SAR data and field observations. In: Tuhkuri, and Riska, (editors). Proceedings of the 15th international conference on port and ocean engineering under Arctic conditions, Espoo, Finland, August 23–27. Espoo: Helsinki University of Technology, Ship Laboratory: 1: 181–190.Google Scholar
Borodachev, V.E. 1998. Ldy Karskogo morya [Sea ice of the Kara Sea]. Edited by Volkov, V.A.. St Petersburg: Gidrometeoizdat.Google Scholar
Bushuev, A.V., Grishchenko, V.D., and Masanov, A.V.. 1989. Sea ice interpretation on satellite radar images. Soviet Journal of Remote Sensing 5 (3): 359–371.Google Scholar
Gill, R.S., Rosengreen, M.K., Tonboe, R.T., Andersen, H.S., Nielsen, P., Valeur, H.H., and Hansen, K.Q.. Ship navigation based on RADARSAT derived ice products. In: Tuhkuri, and Riska, (editors). Proceedings of the 15th international conference on portand ocean engineering under Arctic conditions, Espoo, Finland, August 23–27. Espoo: Helsinki University of Technology, Ship Laboratory: 1: 200–209.Google Scholar
Johannessen, O.M., Volkov, A.M., Grischenko, V.D., Bobylev, L.P., Sandven, S., Kloster, K., Hamre, T., Asmus, V., Smirnov, V.G., Melentyev, V.V., and Zaitsev, L.. 1997a. ICEWATCH: Ice SAR monitoring of the Northern Sea Route. In: Proceedings of the First International Conference on EuroGOOS. Amsterdam: Elsevier (Elsevier Oceanography Series 62): 224–233.Google Scholar
Johannessen, O.M., Sandven, S., Kloster, K., Pettersson, L.H., Melentyev, V.V., Bobylev, L.P., and Kondratyev, K.Ya.. 1997b. ERS-1/2 SAR monitoring of dangerous ice phenomena along the western part of Northern Sea Route. International Journal of Remote Sensing 18 (12): 2477–2481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulherin, N.D. 1996. The Northern Sea Route: its development and evolving state of operations in the 1990s. Hanover, NH: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL Report 96–3).Google Scholar
Pettersson, L.H., Sandven, S., Dalen, O., Melentyev, V.V., and Babich, N.G.. 1999. Satellite radar ice monitoring for ice navigation of the ARCDEV tanker convoy in the Kara Sea. In: Tuhkuri, and Riska, (editors). Proceedings of the 15th international conference on port and ocean engineering under Arctic conditions, Espoo, Finland, August 23–27. Espoo: Helsinki University of Technology, Ship Laboratory: 1: 141–153.Google Scholar
Ramsay, B.R., Weir, L., Wilson, K., and Arkett, M.. 1996. Early results of the use of RADARSAT ScanSAR data in the Canadian Ice Service. In: Proceedings of the fourth symposium on Remote Sensing of the Polar Environments, Lyngby, Denmark, 29April–1 May 1996. Noordvik: European Space Agency (ESA SP-391).Google Scholar
Romanov, I.P. 1995. Atlas of ice and snow of the Arctic Basin and Siberian shelf seas. Edited by Tunik, A.. Backbone Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Sandven, S., and 16 others. 1998a. Integrated use of new microwave satellite data for improved sea ice observation (IMSI): development of new satellite ice data products. Bergen: Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC Technical Report 145).Google Scholar
Sandven, S., Alexandrov, V., Melentyev, V., and Smirnov, V.. 1998b. Demonstration of RADARSAT ScanSAR data for summer ice navigation in the Northern Sea Route. The INSROP Newsletter 6 (1): 11–13.Google Scholar
Sandven, S., Alexandrov, V., Dalen, O., Lundhaug, M., Melentyev, V., Smirnov, V., Babich, N., and Kloster, K.. 1999. Practical demonstration of real-time RADARSAT SAR data for ice navigation on the Northern Sea Route. INSROP Working Paper 134.Google Scholar