Satellite Remote Sensing For Ice Sheet Research

This report assesses potential research applications of satellite data over the terrestrial ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica and recommends actions required to ensure acquisition of relevant data and appropriate processing to a form suitable for research purposes. Relevant data include high-resolution visible and SAR imagery, infrared, passive-microwave and scatterometer measurements, and surface topography information from laser and radar altimeters.

Polar Remote Sensing is a two-volume work providing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary discussion of the applications of satellite sensing. Volume 2 focuses on the ice sheets, icebergs, and interactions between ice sheets and the atmosphere and ocean. It contains information about the applications of satellite remote sensing in all relevant polar related disciplines, including glaciology, meteorology, climate and radiation balance and oceanogaraphy. It also provides a brief review of the state-of-the-art of each discipline, including current issues and questions. Various passive and active remote sensor types are discussed, and the book then concentrates on specific geophysical applications. Its interdisciplinary approach means that major advances and publications are highlighted. Polar Remote Sensing: Ice Sheets summarizes fundamental principles of detectors, imaging and geophysical product retrieval includes a chapter on the important new field of satellite synthetic-aperture radar interferometry is a "one stop shop" for polar remote sensing information contains significant new information on the Earth's polar regions describes sophisticated groundbased remote sensing applications with specific reference to their use in polar regions.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 68. Human activities in the polar regions have undergone incredible changes in this century. Among these changes is the revolution that satellites have brought about in obtaining information concerning polar geophysical processes. Satellites have flown for about three decades, and the polar regions have been the subject of their routine surveillance for more than half that time. Our observations of polar regions have evolved from happenstance ship sightings and isolated harbor icing records to routine global records obtained by those satellites. Thanks to such abundant data, we now know a great deal about the ice-covered seas, which constitute about 10% of the Earth's surface. This explosion of information about sea ice has fascinated scientists for some 20 years. We are now at a point of transition in sea ice studies; we are concerned less about ice itself and more about its role in the climate system. This change in emphasis has been the prime stimulus for this book.

Outlines the evolution of satellite-borne remote sensing of polar regions, evaluates satellites currently in operation, and considers future developments.

The cryosphere, that region of the world where water is temporarily or permanently frozen, plays a crucial role on our planet. Recent developments in remote sensing techniques, and the acquisition of new data sets, have resulted in significant advances in our understanding of all components of the cryosphere and its processes. This book, based on contributions from 40 leading experts, offers a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the methods, techniques and recent advances in applications of remote sensing of the cryosphere. Examples of the topics covered include: • snow extent, depth, grain-size and impurities • surface and subsurface melting • glaciers • accumulation over the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets • ice thickness and velocities • gravimetric measurements from space • sea, lake and river ice • frozen ground and permafrost • fieldwork activities • recent and future cryosphere-oriented missions and experiments All figures are in color and provide an excellent visual accompaniment to the technical and scientific aspect of the book. Readership: Senior undergraduates, Masters and PhD Students, PostDocs and Researchers in cryosphere science and remote sensing. Remote Sensing of the Cryosphere is the significant first volume in the new Cryosphere Science Series. This new series comprises volumes that are at the cutting edge of new research, or provide focussed interdisciplinary reviews of key aspects of the science.

Sea Ice: Physics and Remote Sensing addresses experiences acquired mainly in Canada by researchers in the fields of ice physics and growth history in relation to its polycrystalline structure as well as ice parameters retrieval from remote sensing observations. The volume describes processes operating at the macro- and microscale (e.g., brine entrapment in sea ice, crystallographic texture of ice types, brine drainage mechanisms, etc.). The information is supported by high-quality photographs of ice thin-sections prepared from cores of different ice types, all obtained by leading experts during field experiments in the 1970s through the 1990s, using photographic cameras and scanning microscopy. In addition, this volume presents techniques to retrieve a suite of sea ice parameters (e.g. ice type, concentration, extent, thickness, surface temperature, surface deformation, etc.) from space-borne and airborne sensor data. The breadth of the material on this subject is designed to appeal to researchers and users of remote sensing data who want to develop quick familiarity with the capabilities of this technology or detailed knowledge about major techniques for retrieval of key ice parameters. Volume highlights include: Detailed crystallographic classification of natural sea ice, the key information from which information about ice growth conditions can be inferred. Many examples are presented with material to support qualitative and quantitative interpretation of the data. Methods developed for revealing microstructural characteristics of sea ice and performing forensic investigations. Data sets on radiative properties and satellite observations of sea ice, its snow cover, and surrounding open water. Methods of retrieval of ice surface features and geophysical parameters from remote sensing observations with a focus on critical issues such as the suitability of different sensors for different tasks and data synergism. Sea Ice: Physics and Remote Sensing is intended for a variety of sea ice audiences interested in different aspects of ice related to physics, geophysics, remote sensing, operational monitoring, mechanics, and cryospheric sciences.

Many advances in spaceborne instrumentation, remote sensing, and data analysis have occurred in recent years, but until now there has been no book that reflects these advances while delivering a uniform treatment of the remote sensing of frozen regions. Remote Sensing of Snow and Ice identifies unifying themes and ideas in these fields and presents them in a single volume. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the remote sensing of the Earth’s cryosphere. Explaining why cryospheric observations are important and why remote sensing observations are essential, it offers thorough surveys of the physical properties of ice and snow, and of current and emerging remote sensing techniques. Presenting a technical review of how the properties of snow and ice relate to remote sensing observations, the book focuses on principles by which useful geophysical information becomes encoded into the electromagnetic radiation detected during the remote sensing process. The author then discusses in detail the application of remote sensing methods to snow, freshwater ice, glaciers, and icebergs. The book concludes with a summary that examines what remote sensing has revealed about the cryosphere, where major technical problems still exist, and how these problems can be addressed.