Algorithm development for satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) classification and mapping of Great Lakes ice cover

Computer analysis of ERS-1 and RADARSAT ScanSAR narrow images of Great Lakes ice cover using a supervised (level slicing) classification technique indicates that different ice types in the ice cover can be identified and mapped and that wind speed and direction can have a strong influence on the backscatter from open water. During the 1997 winter season, shipborne polarimetric backscatter data using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) C-band scatterometer, together with surface-based ice physical characterization measurements and environmental parameters were acquired concurrently with RADARSAT and ERS-2 overpass. This data set was processed to radar cross-section and will establish a library of signatures (look-up table) for different ice types to be used in the machine classification of calibrated satellite SAR data