A data fusion algorithm for mapping sea-ice concentrations from Special Sensor Microwave/Imager data

Ice charts from the U.S. National Ice Center, Washington, DC, are compared to published algorithms for generating sea-ice concentrations from SSM/I data. The same ice charts, in a form that includes information derived only from RADARSAT, OLS, and AVHRR data, are used in an operational algorithm that effectively tunes a hybrid of the Bootstrap and NASA Team algorithms and principal components of the SSM/I data to the time and region associated with the ice chart. This “tuned” algorithm is then used to interpolate ice concentrations elsewhere in the ice chart where no cloud-free, high resolution, visible, infrared or active microwave satellite data are available. The algorithm is designed to operate in near real time to assist the ice analysts in their otherwise manually-intensive task of compiling ice charts for vessels operating in ice-infested waters