Detection and classification of China's Bohai Sea ice by using RADARSAT SAR and DMSP SSM/I

The shore ice at middle latitudes, such as in China's Bohai Sea only lasted for a few months during winter. Its physical constituents and temporal and spatial variability are different from the polar regions. This paper, using the image data from active RADARSAT SAR and passive DMSP SSM/I measurements over the Bohai Sea ice, presents a correlated analysis for sea ice detection and classification. By using numerical modeling of scattering and radiative transfer of a layer of sea ice, the spatial variation of the Bohai Sea shore ice is studied. The scattering index (PI), polarization index (PI), and the polarization ratio (PR) from passive SSM/I observations are defined to detect the existence of sea ice. Further, using the back-scattering measured by the high resolution SAR of RADARSAT, the sea ice of the Bohai Sea can be further classified.