Sea Ice Detection Method Using the Dependence of the Radar Cross-Section on the Incidence Angle

Abstract

The method for sea ice detection using the data from the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) onboard the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite data is suggested. The approach is based on the analysis of the shape of normalized radar cross-section dependence on the incidence angle. The coefficient of kurtosis of surface slopes probability density function is introduced as a parameter to distinguish between open water and ice cover. The approach was validated using the data on sea ice concentration from the AMSR-2 radiometer in the Antarctic region.

Keywords

• dual-frequency precipitation radar
• global precipitation measurement satellite
• near nadir normalized radar cross-section
• sea ice detection
• surface slope probability density function