Detection and characterization of extreme ice features in single high resolution satellite imagery

Information on the locations and characteristics of extreme sea ice features (such as, hummocks, ridges, stamukhas and icebergs) is important for various marine applications. Imagery acquired by high resolution optical satellites was previously used for qualitative image interpretation to identify various sea ice features and it is especially valuable when detailed ground validation is not available. Current optical satellites, such as GeoEye-1, are able to acquire images with very high resolution of 0.5m. This work addresses the problem of quantitative retrieval of ice feature parameters from very high resolution optical imagery. The developed algorithms facilitate extraction of ice feature height from shadow and derivation of statistical information on ice deformation parameters. Automated processing of GeoEye-1 image demonstrated capabilities of retrieval of ridge frequency and segmentation of rubble fields.