Simulation of RADARSAT ScanSAR for sea ice applications

In preparation for the use of RADARSAT for operational sea ice reconnaissance, the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing has undertaken a project to simulate the geographic coverage, information content and radiometric characteristics of RADARSAT ScanSAR imagery for user evaluation. ScanSAR will be the principal mode of RADARSAT used by the operational sea ice community because of its wide area coverage and frequent repeat period. The simulation was based on a mosaic of ERS-1 SAR images of the western Canadian Arctic collected in midwinter. These conditions were chosen to minimize signature differences between ERS-1 and RADARSAT (due to polarization and incidence angle) and to minimize discontinuities at scene boundaries due to ice motion. The mosaic was processed through a simulation software package (Intera Technologies Ltd.) to simulate the resolution, thermal noise and speckle characteristics of ScanSAR. An evaluation of the suitability of ScanSAR imagery for ice reconnaissance is presented