Image reconstruction of Arctic sea ice using SWIM data at small incidence angles

Area of Science:

• Remote Sensing
• Oceanography
• Cryosphere Science

Background:

• The Surface Wave Investigation and Monitoring (SWIM) instrument offers sea ice detection but has limited spatial resolution (18 km).
• Existing image reconstruction methods have limitations in extending incidence angle ranges for sea ice analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new sea ice image reconstruction method for small incidence angles using SWIM data.
• To improve the spatial resolution of sea ice imagery derived from SWIM observations.

Main Methods:

• Comparison of various image reconstruction techniques applied to SWIM data.
• Selection and optimization of the Scatterometer Image Reconstruction (SIR) method for sea ice.
• Application of SIR to SWIM data from the Kara Sea region at incidence angles of 6°-10°.

Main Results:

• The Scatterometer Image Reconstruction (SIR) method was identified as optimal, offering enhanced sea ice detail and noise suppression.
• Reconstruction quality improved with increased iteration numbers for the SIR method.
• The developed method achieved a normalized standard deviation of 0.55, showing good agreement with sea ice charts and Sentinel-1 SAR data.

Conclusions:

• The proposed sea ice image reconstruction method effectively improves spatial resolution using small incidence angle SWIM data.
• This advancement extends the applicability of image reconstruction techniques for detailed sea ice monitoring.
• The findings support enhanced analysis of sea ice conditions in polar regions.