Compartive study of Sea Ice Concentration by using DMSP SSM/I, Aqua AMSR-E and Kompsat-1 EOC

Satellite passive microwave radiometers such as DMSP SSM/I and Aqua AMSR-E have been providing scientific evidences of sea ice fluctuations through the analysis of decadal archives of daily sea ice concentration (SIC). To evaluate SIC we observed sea ice with a 6 m resolution optical EOC sensor onboard Kompsat-1. Total 68 cloud-free scenes were obtained across the Antarctic continental edges from September to November 2005. In EOC images, we classified sea ice types into White ice (W), Grey-ice (G), and Dark-grey ice (G) and then compared with DMSP SSM/I and Aqua AMSR-E SIC products. In Antarctic springtime, EOC (W+G) SIC showed best fit to SSM/I SIC while (W+G+D) SIC to AMSR-E SIC. It is suggested that SSM/I SIC responds to young ice in addition to multi-year ice and first-year ice, while AMSR-E SIC detects new ice as well.