Supervised by:

Saeid Homayouni (Associate Member)

Co-supervised by:

Monique Bernier

Research project description

Characterization of sea ice using multifrequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery for on-ice trafficability

Introduction

The rapid changes in the polar environments under a climate change context are generating unpredictable, unprecedented, and dangerous sea ice travel conditions, even in the traditional trails communities used for decades. It was reported that search and rescue responses increased in the last two decades with breaks through the thin ice and swamps in deep slush while snowmobiling. The Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) have been widely studied for sea ice concentration, classification of different types of ice, sea ice and snow thickness, ice drift and deformation, but all of these studies involved a maritime perspective. Especially, there is an existing gap in science for the study of the slush on sea ice, and published articles monitoring the same using SAR are null. Only some publications mention this phenomenon and the characterization of the saline slush wasn’t studied before being a relevant variable for the Inuit’s travel safety.

Objectives

The aim of this research is to characterize the seasonal fast sea ice in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago using synthetic aperture radars in terms of on-ice trafficability. To achieve this aim, the following objectives were established: Describe the relationship between the SAR backscatter and the sea ice thickness, snow depth, slush and melting stages in the early melt/melt onset regime using multi-frequency SAR and applying exploratory data analysis, statistics and visualizations. Explore the capabilities of the polarimetric parameters for slush detection by studying its relation with the ice thickness, snow depth, and snow properties, identifying the scattering mechanisms involved and its dominance in the response in the early melt/melt onset regime.

Study Sites

The study sites of this project are in Nunavut and Nunavik. In Nunavut, Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet) is a local community that has been involved for many years with travel safety on the sea ice. In Nunavik, three sites have been previously studied in INRS-TENOR: Salluit, Deception Bay and Kangiqsujuaq.

Material and methods

The in situ data will be collected in a collaborative way with the project “Sikuttiaq - Empowering our Communities to map rough ice and slush for safer sea-ice travel in Inuit Nunangat” under the “Canada-Inuit Nunangat-United Kingdom Arctic Research Programme 2021-2025” The SAR images coincident with the fieldwork dates will be processed to obtain the backscatter values and polarimetric parameters and to be contrasted with the in situ measurements. The polarimetric parameters to be calculated will depend if the images are dual or quad-pol. Additional data will be used to validate images in space and time as optical satellites and time-lapse imagery.

Expected results

Statistic of the snow geophysical variables, ice thickness, and freeboard with the satellite information. Obtained the polarimetric signature of the slush that allows the slush detection in the spatial and temporal scale.

Research Site Coordinates