Error Analysis of Real-Time Remotely Sensed Microwave Sea-Ice Motions in the Western Arctic Ocean
Abstract
An algorithm used to composite SSM/I 85.5 GHz imagery and derive sea ice motion was adapted for operational testing at Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Command (FNMOC). A feature tracking technique was applied to a 6-month period, with data provided by FNMOC and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Ice motions are detectable using the SSM/I motion algorithm, and fields of SSM/I motion vectors are qualitatively consistent with coincident fields of in situ buoy motion vectors. Accuracy of the SSM/I motion vectors relative to buoy motion vectors increase significantly with buoy speed. No correlation between SSM/I and buoy motion vectors is observed for speeds below 3 cm/s and correlation increases significantly above 5 cm/s. The results are very sensitive to compositing techniques used to combine SSM/I passes into a single sea ice representation. FNMOC data was composited using a "drop-in-the-bucket" technique while NRL data was composited by a bilinear interpolation technique. Significantly poorer results were found with ENMOC composited data.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA386446
Entities
People
- David M. Carsten
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School