Sea ice classification using multi-frequency polarimetric SAR data

This paper discusses the capability of the complex Wishart classifier for sea ice and classification using multifrequency, fully polarimetric SAR data. C-, L-, and P-band data acquired by the JPL AIRSAR in the Beaufort Sea was used. Classification using the unsupervised Wishart classifier is a two-stage process. An initial classification is required to seed the algorithm and can be derived using other classification methods. The Wishart classifier then used in iterations where the class means are updated after every step. The convergence of this approach is investigated. The Wishart classifier was found to be extremely dominant so that the classification result after a few iterations depends not necessarily on the initial classification used to derive the first class means. Even an initial classification derived with a random number generator leads to a good result after a few iterations.