Assimilation of SAR data in the marginal ice zone

The assimilation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data in an operational data assimilation system for the purpose of estimating sea ice properties is a relatively unexplored area. One of the areas where SAR data can provide key information regarding the details of the ice cover is in the marginal ice zone. However, automatic interpretation of the images in this area is challenging due to sensitivity of the backscattered signal to changing surface conditions. In this study different texture features are assimilated into a background sea ice state in the marginal ice zone. The contribution of the various texture features to the analysis is evaluated.