The IcePAC project: A sea-ice spatiotemporal variability atlas

Sea ice cover has been for long monitored using remote sensing. Through time, both temporal and spatial resolution of the sea ice data offered to the end users improved. In this line of thought, the IcePAC project aims to offer, in the actual context of climate change, concise and both spatially and temporally precise information on sea ice most probable behavior, especially along the coastal regions, where high-resolution information is hardly available. To achieve that goal, we propose two probabilistic models based on frequency analysis. First, a regional scale (12.5 km) model built from passive microwave imagery will provide ice probability information for the complete spatial domain. Secondly, a local scale (250 m) model, built using optical MODIS and SAR Radarsat-1 ice maps data will help give precise information along the coastal regions. In the end, both models are to be available for queries through an online Web mapping interface.