Near realtime use of RADARSAT SAR imagery combined with AVHRR images for ship navigation in Antarctica

In polar regions, ice conditions, which can be defined by ice types and ice concentration, strongly influence ship navigation. For a long time, satellite imagery, specially AVHRR and SAR data, has been providing information about ice types and ice concentration. In Antarctica, until now the availability of SAR images was not sufficient for this data to be used in a realtime approach. So, AVHRR imagery has been very useful for helping ship navigation in this region. However, due to its onboard recorder, the Canadian satellite, RADARSAT, can acquire images over Antarctica on a regular basis. Its potential for ship routing in Antarctica and its complementarity with AVHRR were investigated in the experiment presented in this paper.