Automated Antarctic ice edge detection using NSCAT data

Polar sea ice plays an important role in the global climate and other geophysical processes. Although spaceborne scatterometers such as NSCAT have low inherent spatial resolution, resolution enhancement techniques can be utilized to make NSCAT data useful for monitoring sea ice extent in the Antarctic. Dual polarization radar measurements are A and B values are used in a linear discrimination analysis to identify sea ice and ocean pixels in composite images. Ice edge detection noise reduction is performed through region growing and erosion/dilation techniques. The algorithm is applied to actual NSCAT data. The resulting edge closely matches the NSIDC SSM/I derived 50% ice concentration edge.