Sea ice classification using compact polarized SAR

Sea ice is a dominant indicator of climate change with rapid sea ice loss observed in Arctic Ocean in recent years. Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors are ideal for ice monitoring because of their all-weather operation and sensitivity to surface roughness, volume structure, dielectric properties and viewing geometry. Quad-pol SAR has unique capabilities which play a key role in geophysical remote sensing, able to measure the scattering matrix, providing both intensity and phase information that can lead to classification of the scattering mechanisms of the sea ice. However, there is a cost to quad-pol SAR in terms of doubled average transmitted power, swath width and limited range of admissible incidence angles; for example, the quad-pol images are about 25 km width, which limits the monitoring of ice.