Title :
A multidecadal study of the number of Antarctic icebergs using scatterometer data
Author :
Ballantyne, Jarom ; Long, David G.
Author_Institution :
Microwave Earth Remote Sensing Lab., Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT, USA
Abstract :
Tabular Antarctic icebergs are regularly formed by the separation of massive sections of ice from ice shelves and glaciers. The National Ice Center (NIC) uses a variety of satellite sensors to track large Antarctic icebergs and reports iceberg position,. According to the NIC database, the number of large Antarctic icebergs has been increasing in recent years. A long term analysis of Antarctic iceberg activity based on scatterometer and radiometer data is presented. Our analysis suggests this increase is largely due to improved resources and technological advancements for iceberg tracking. Recent calving events may represent natural variability in iceberg activity. This study identifies some of the advantages and limitations of tracking icebergs using scatterometer data.
Keywords :
glaciology; hydrological techniques; oceanographic regions; oceanographic techniques; remote sensing by radar; sea ice; spaceborne radar; AD 1978 to 2001; Antarctic icebergs; NIC; National Ice Center; Southern Ocean; calving events; ice shelves; iceberg; iceberg activity; iceberg tracking; measurement technique; multidecadal study; number; occurrence; ocean; radar remote sensing; radar scatterometry; sea ice; statistics; tabular berg; tabular iceberg; temporal variation; variability; Antarctica; Ice; Image resolution; Instruments; Microwave radiometry; Monitoring; Radar measurements; Radar tracking; Satellite broadcasting; Spaceborne radar;
Conference_Titel :
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2002. IGARSS '02. 2002 IEEE International
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7536-X
DOI :
10.1109/IGARSS.2002.1026859