GeoSAR Applications for Ice and Snow

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a proven technology for deriving valuable information from ice-filled
landscapes - everything from global climate change to ice mapping/ice management.
Glacial Ice
Ice sheets and glaciers form the largest component of
perennial ice on Earth, and over 75% of the world’s fresh
water is presently locked up in these frozen reservoirs.
Topographic information is essential to the study of
mountain glaciers and ice sheets.
Evidence shows that interferometric synthetic aperture radar such
as that flown on Fugro’s GeoSAR airborne radar mapping system is
a powerful solution for mapping snow/ice topography
over large areas, and is independent of cloud cover,
daylight, and recognizable surface features. Therefore,
data acquisition is possible in conditions otherwise
difficult for surface sensors—where remote locations,
GeoSAR Classification of depth of P-band penetration
into snow/ice on the West Fork Glacier, Alaska.
low temperatures, low visibility conditions and the
polar night do not inhibit operations.
GeoSAR is a unique, state-of-the-art, dual-band, dual-sided,
single-pass interferometric mapping radar, designed to efficiently
map wide-areas, both top vegetation canopies and the terrain
beneath the canopy. Flown on a Gulfstream-II jet aircraft, GeoSAR
maps swaths simultaneously on both sides of the aircraft to
generate high quality DEMs and imagery at both X-band and
P-band.
The GeoSAR system was augmented with a modified Leica ALS40
nadir-pointing LiDAR profiler system to measure highly accurate
ground control points that are used during production of large area
mosaics and as validation control with a vertical accuracy of better
than 50 cm from altitudes up to 13,000 m.
Elevation data over an Alaskan glacier collected by GeoSAR.
Geospatial Services
GeoSAR Applications for Ice and Snow
GeoSAR Applications for Ice and Snow
(Right) Satellite image of Columbia Bay, Alaska. (Top) Shows the
GeoSAR radar profile of the ice sheet, with the red line representing
X-band and the black line representing P-band.
Sea Ice
Sea ice covers about one tenth of the World’s Ocean surface and
plays an important role in the global climate through it’s interaction
with atmosphere and ocean. The mobility of sea ice lends to
conditions such as the ridging or rafting of ice (pile-up) making it
relatively more difficult to study in comparison to terrain ice or soil.
SAR imagery is used to detect, locate and identify a variety of
sea ice forms and features, including; ice type, surface features,
floe size, and deformation. Sea ice type or thickness and age are
particularly important parameters to study in the polar regions. Ice
thickness is a function of age, deformation, and pressure. GeoSAR,
through a function of frequency (wavelength) and polarization, has
the ability to penetrate ice, allowing for additional information and
Arctic Applications
GeoSAR data is useful for the following Arctic
and sub-Arctic area applications:
• Ice thickness
• Topography
• Hydrology
• Geology
• Snow / ice mapping
• Perma-frost extent
• Oil spill monitoring and characterization
characterization.
Fugro Geospatial, Inc.
7320 Executive Way, Frederick, MD 21704
3600 Jet Drive, Rapid City, SD 57703
+1 301 948 8550
+1 605 343-0280
More information available at WWW.FUGROGEOSPATIAL.COM
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