Recent anomalies in Great Lakes ice cover based on statistical analysis and observation

In this work, the anomalous change in ice cover on the Great Lakes was observed and recorded during our GLAWEX1997, GLAWAEX2002 and GLAWEX2003 field experiments on the upper Great Lakes. The objective of the experiments is to develop algorithms to map and classify ice using satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and scatterometer data. Moreover, the large spatial and high temporal coverage of satellite scatterometer measurements with its all-weather, day/night sensing capabilities make it well suited to map and monitor Great Lakes ice cover to extend the historical climatological record that was largely developed using aircraft observations