REAL-TIME SEA ICE MONITORING OF THE

Bergen, Norway

Bergen, Norway

St. Petersburg, Russia

REAL-TIME SEA ICE MONITORING OF THE NORTHERN SEA ROUTE USING ERS-l SATELLITE RADAR IMAGES an ESA ERS-l Pilot Demonstration Project, October - December, 1993 by O. M. Johannessen, L.B. Pettersson, S. Sandven, V.V. Melentyev, M. Miles, K. Kloster, L.P. Bobylev, M. Stette, A. Drottning and K. Va. Kondratyev

BERGEN, JULY, 1994

Project Report to the European Space Agency (ESA) under ERS-l AlO project PP2-Nl and Norwegian Space Centre (NSC) under Contract no. JOP. 8.33. 1 7.93. 1

REAL-TIME SEA ICE MONITORING OF THE NORTHERN SEA ROUTE USING ERS-1 SATELLITE RADAR IMAGES Part 1: An ESA ERS-1 Pilot Demonstration Project, October - December, 1993. by O. M. Johannessen!), L.H. Pettersson2), S. Sandven!), V.V. Melentyev3), M. Miles!), K. Kloster l ), L.P. Bobylev3), M. Stette l ) A. Drottning2), and K. Va. Kondratyev4)

Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) Bergen, Norway 2) Terra Orbit AlS Bergen, Norway , 3) Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NIERSC) St. Petersburg, Russia, l)

and

4)St. Petersburg Research Centre for Ecological Safety of the Russian Academy of Sciences St. Petersburg, Russia in collaboration with

Icebreaker Fleet Service (NIFS) of the Munnansk Shipping Company (MSC) and

Icebreakers "Sovetsky Soyuz" and "Yamal" Murmansk, Russia The Dikson Marine Operational Headquarters of the Russian Hydro-Meteorological Committee and the Ice Service of the MSC Dikson, Russia, and

Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), St. Petersburg, Dikson, Russia.

Terra Orbit AlS Edv. Griegsvei 3a N-5037 Solheimsvik NORWAY. Phone: +47 55 20 34 35 Fax: +47 55 20 00 50

a company owned by the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC)

REPORT TITLE REPORT NO. Real-Time Sea Ice Monitoring of the Terra Orbit NS Northern Sea Route using ERS-1 Technical Report no. 1194 satellite Radar Images - an ESA ERS1 Pilot Demonstration Project, October - December, 1993. CLIENTS European Space Agency (ESA) Norwegian Space Centre

CONTRACT No. ERS-1 NO project PP2-N1 JOP.8.3.3.17.93.1 '

CLIENT REFERENCE

AVAILABILITY

Guy Duchossois, ESA HQ, Paris Guro Dahle Strfl)m, NSC, Oslo

OPEN

PRINCIPAL AUTHORS

DATE

O. M. Johannessen, L.H. Pettersson, S. Sandven, V.V. Melentyev, M. Miles, K. Kloster, L.P. Bobylev, M. Stette A. Drottning, and K. Ya. Kondratyev ,

July 14., 1994

AUTHORISATION P?CTMA,yER

~f(/~~ Lasse H. Pettersson, Director Terra Orbit NS

Ola M. Joh essen, Director NERSC

Cover page image: A sub-image of the ERS-J SAR from the Nordenskjold Archipelago off the Siberian coast, superimposed the nuclear icebreaker Sovetsky Souyz of the Murmansk Shipping Company. The lead in the ice made by the icebreaker some days prior to the acquisition of the SAR image is resolved as a bright.line in east -west direction off the bow of the ship. Copyright, J9©93: ESAINERSC/TerraOrbit.

Real-time sea ice monitoring of the Northern Sea Route using ERS-l radar images

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PROJECT PARTICIPANTS Acknowledgement is given to all institutions and in particular to the individuals involved in the operations at and related to the icebreakers, for their essential contribution to the project. Institution

Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) Edv. Griegsvei 3, N-5037 Bergen, Norway

Terra Orbit AlS Edv. Griegsvei 3, N-5037 Bergen, Norway Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NIERSC) Korpusnaya str. 18, 197042 St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg Research Centre for Ecological Safety of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Key personnel Prof. Ola M. Johannessen (Principal investigator) Research Director S. Sandven (data analysis and reporting) Post doc. M. Miles (data analysis and reporting) Senior scientist K. Kloster (data acquisition) Scientist M. Stette (data communication) Director L.H. Pettersson (project manager) Scientist A. Drottning (data processing/ analysis) Leading Scientist Dr. V.V. Melentyev (project co-manager) Director Dr. L. Bobylev (SAR analysis and organisation) Computer Manager L. V. Zaytsev (image processing) Academician K. Ya. Kondratyev (SAR analysis)

Korpusnaya str. 18, 197042 St. Petersburg, Russia

Murmansk Shipping Company Ltd. (MSC) Nuclear Icebreaker Fleet Service (NIFS)

Mr. Yu. F. Glushko (Chief of the MSC NIFS, Murmansk) Kominterna str. 13, Mr. D. Berdnikov (Chief of MOH, Dikson) 183638 Murmansk, Russia Dr. N. Adamovich (Chief of SOG, Dikson) Captain A.G. Goshkovsky (IIB Sovetsky Soyuz) Hydrologist V.E. Pashchenko (IIB Sovetsky Soyuz) Captain A.V. Smirnov (IIB Ydmal) Hydrologist A Ya. Winter (IIB Yamal) Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) Deputy director Dr. N.A. Kornilov (St. Petersburg) Bering str. 38 Dr. E.I. Makarov (SOG, Dikson) 199397 St. Petersburg, Russia

.


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Table of Contents Project participants ................................................................................................. .ii Table of Contents ................................................................................................... .iii Executive Summary ................................................................................................ iv 1. Introduction ................................................................................. ......................... 1 2. The Russian Ice Monitoring of the Northern Sea Route ..................................... 3 3. ERS-l SAR data scheduling, processing, and transmission ................................ 6 3.1 Requests and planning of acquisition ......................................................... 6 3.2 Processing at the acquisition station in Troms~ ......................................... 7 3.3 Processing and analysis at NERSC in Bergen ...................... :..................... 7 3.4 Transmission of SAR ice information to the operational units .................. 7 4. The Demonstration Project .................................................................................. 8 5. Analysis of ERS-l SAR Data for Sea Ice Navigation - Selected Examples ..... 13 5.1 The ice edge region during freeze-up ....................................................... 14 5.2 Ice ridges, residual ice, and land fast ice in Vilkitskogo Strait.. ............... 14 5.3 First-year ice types along the Taymyr coast ............................................. 20 5.4 Discussion on ice type identification from SAR data ............................... 24 6. Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations ................................................ 26 6.1 Summary ................................................................................................... 26 6.2 Conclusions ............................................, .................................................. 26 6.3 Recommendations ..................................................................................... 27 6.4 Future Prospects ........................................................................................ 28 7. Acknowledgement ............................................................................................. 29 8. References ......................................................................................................... 30

APPENDICES A: Participating Institutions and Key PersonneL ................................................. 31 B: Sea Ice Nomenclature ...................................................................................... 33


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Executive Summary This project is based on the availability of a one year long time series of ERS-l Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images from the western part of the Arctic Russian coastal waters. It is a continuation of the first use of ERS-I SAR for guidance of the first western vessel since the Russian revolution - the French vessel L 'Astrolabe - through the North-east Passage which took place in August 1991 [Johannessen et al., 1992a-c]. This report covers Part 1 of the project - a preoperational sea ice monitoring demonstration period conducted from late October to eady December 1993. During this part of the project near real-time sea ice information derived from ERS-l microwave radar images were provided to the Russian icebreaker service operating along the Siberian coast. The ERS-l SAR data has been granted from the European Space Agency (ESA) through their approval of the proposal "Real time monitoring of sea ice in the Northeast Passage by ERS-l SAR data" [Johannessen & Sandven, 1992d], submitted under the.second call for ERS-l application pilot projects. Part 2 of the project (to be reported separately) took place in February and March 1994, covering the Kara Sea and the western Siberian rivers. . The Northern Sea Route is a very important region for sea transportation to the Siberian coastal and river settlements as well as for future transportation between Europe and the Pacific Ocean. The near real-time ERS-I Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data have been acquired and processed by the Troms" Satellite Station (TSS) - an operational unit of the Norwegian Space Center. The data has been transferred to NERSClTerra Orbit AlS where they have been further processed and analysed. The processed and interpreted sea ice information were then transferred in near real-time to the Russian ice monitoring service and the icebreaker fleet of the Murmansk Shipping Company. The main Russian partner of the project is the Nansen International and Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NIERSC) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Based on a co-operation between NIERSC and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St. Petersburg co-operations with the icebreaker fleet of the Murmansk Shipping Company (MSC) and the Russian Ice Monitoring Service in Dikson have been established. The overall objective is to demonstrate the importance of sea ice monitoring by use of ERS-l SAR for ship routing through the Northern Sea Route by near real-time distribution of high resolution (= 100 m) radar images and detailed ice maps to the Russian icebreaker fleet and ice monitoring and forecasting centres. The specific objective are to: • demonstrate and familiarise the Russian icebreaker crew and operational ice monitoring service with the use of ERS-l SAR data to assist sea ice mapping and navigation in the ice • receive fint hand experience on the actual information needs and requirements for the operational use of satellite radar data in icebreaker operations along the Siberian coast • evaluate and gain experience with data communication to vessels operating in the high latitude regions off the Siberian coast, • collect seasonal information for the validation of the SAR image signatures of various sea ice types and conditions for the development of future automatic ice classification routines R.:al· lime sea ice monitoring of the Northern S.:a Routc

u~ing

ERS·I raJar imagcs

• establish a seasonal SAR image data set for the Kara Sea region during the 1993/94 season, and • make recommendations for a future implementation of a co-operation with the Russian ice service for an operational service based on satellite SAR data. The project has been executed through an intensified period under which a NIERSC scientist was onboard the MSC nuclear icebreaker Sovets!,.)' So.vuz. He promoted the use of the annotated SAR images provided, and acquired field information in order to improve the ability to accurately interpret the SAR backscatter from the ice conditions present in this region during winter conditions. The major achievement from this demonstration project is that one have demonstrated the potential operational use and limitations of ERS-I SAR images for practical sea ice navigation along the Northern Sea Route. The ability to developed and validate algorithms for automatic classification of the radar signatures is still uncertain, but with regional knowledge as well as experience in image interpretation, the images can be efficiently used in the tactical planning of icebreaker navigation and convoy operations. In order to use ERS-l SAR images operationally it is essential that the means for transmission of the information to the operational units are significantly improved. The ERS-l SAR swath is also too narrow to meet the operational requirements for an operational information service.

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icc monilOrlllg o r the :\ 0nh.:rn Sea Route using ERS- : raJar images

Troms0 Satellite Station (TSS) of the Norwegian Space Center (NSC) have on several occasions demonstrated a leading international role in utilising ERS-1 SAR data for real-time sea ice monitoring [Strubing et al,., 1991, Wagner, 1994]. The Norwegian ground station for satellite data acquisition has one of the most advanced processing and distribution system in the world for near real-time applications of SAR data. TSS delivers ERS-1 SAR images from the entire western part of the Siberian coast (to::::: 11 0 °E) within 1 hour after the satellite pass. NERSC and Terra Orbit AfS then analyses the SAR data, and distributes the interpreted and annotated sea ice image-maps to the operational users. In addition passive microwave data from the Special Sensor Microwave Instrument (SSM/I) sensor of the US Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) is used to resolve the larger-scale sea ice coverage in the region. The Norwegian Space Centre has already initiated, at Terra Orbit AlS and NERSC, a pre-operational near real-time sea ice monitoring service for the Svalbard region [Sandven et al., 1992a, Sandven et aI., 1994b]. NERSC first demonstrated a pre-operational use of spaceborne SAR data for guidance of a commercial vessel through the Northern Sea Route in August 1991. This operation took place only two weeks after the launch of the ERS-1 satellite. SAR derived sea ice charts and information were then provided in near real-time to the French vessel L 'Astrolabe during her voyage through the Northern Sea Route from Norway to Japan [Johannessen et al., 1992a-c]. The experiences gained during this mission were evaluated, and found to be very encouraging by the Russian icebreaker captains and sea ice experts supporting the ship ice navigation through the Northern Sea Route and this type of service was recommended to continue. In order to continue the ERS-1 SAR ice monitoring in the Northern Sea Route NERSC submitted and received approval for a project proposal to the European Space Agency (ESA) in response to their Announcement of Opportunity for ERS-1 demonstration projects [Johannessen and Sandven, 1992d]. The objective was to perform a one year sea ice monitoring program of the western part of the Northern Sea Route using ERS-1 SAR data. The approval form ESA implied that ESA provided the necessary SAR scenes to regularly cover the region. From 1 July 1993 to 30 June 1994 approximately 1.000 SAR scenes were acquired in order to conduct a seasonal variation study of the sea ice throughout one year. The investigation period has lately been extended until the end of September, 1994. Part 1 of this project, focusing on a near real-time demonstration period, which took place from the end of October to early Dece~ber, will be presented in this report. The Norwegian Space Centre has granted funds and access to ERS-1 SAR data from TSS in order to perform a one month near real-time pilot demonstration period during this project. During this demonstration period, near real-time distribution of ERS-1 SAR images have been distributed to the Russian icebreakers and ice monitoring and forecasting service operating in the Kara Sea and western part of the Northern Sea Route. SAR data have then been acquired and processed by Troms0 Satellite Station within their area of coverage which is east to approximately Cape Chelyuskin. This project has been executed jointly between NERSC and Terra Orbit AlS, Bergen, Norway and the Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NIERSC) · in St. Petersburg, Russia. Through NIERSC, direct contacts have been established with the major research institutions and participants in the operational institutions responsible for the year-round ship traffic through the Northern Sea Route. The direct contacts with the Murmansk Shipping Company (MSC) and with the Russian Ice Service established through the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St. Petersburg have been essential for the execution of this project. The specific roles of the various institutions and the project staff are given in Appendix A.

Real-time sea ice monitoring' of the Northern Sea Route using ERS-l radar images

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2. The Russian Ice Monitoring of the Northern Sea Route The operations along the northern Russian coast are generally governed by strict Russian control; until the last few years only a very limited number of non-Russian ships have had access to this area. The general access to the regiori is governed by the Russian Ministry of Defence. The responsibility of the civilian ship traffic in the region is managed under the Ministry of Transport, which has its own Department of the Northeast Passage. The environmental monitoring, which is essential for safe operation in polar regions, is organised by the Russian Hydro-Meteorological Committee. The operations and monitoring of the Northern Sea Route region are divided in the westert;l and eastern regions, with respectively Murmansk and Vladivostok as the main ports for the shipping activities. Navigation in the western part of the Northern Sea Route is controlled by the Marine Operational Headquarter (MOH) in the town of Dikson; in the eastern part a similar MOH is located in Pevek. The Russian Hydro-Meteorological Committee, as well as the Murmansk Shipping Company (MSC) and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) operates the sea ice monitoring activities at these MOH. Both the Dikson and Pevek centres have manned observation sites located at several locations along the Siberian coast. Before entering the region, ships must inform the MOH about their departure from port and send reports every 12 hours. Rules prohibit independent actions of the ships in the ice without informing the MOH. At the Dikson and Pevek MOH ice centres, the Science Operational Groups (SOG) of the Russian Hydro-Meteorological Committee and MSC provides a real-time sea ice monitoring and forecasting service to the vessels operating in the region. Figure 1 shows the main organisational scheme leading to the Science Operational Group (SOG) of the MOH, which are responsible for the production of the integrated sea ice maps . for the western part of the region. The current Russian sea ice information service (summarised in Figure 2) is based on field observations from a large icebreaker fleet, including helicopter surveillance (operated by the Murmansk Shipping Company and the Far-East Shipping .Company in Vladivostok), as well as from visible and thermal-band satellite imagery, such as the US NOAA, and the Russian Meteor and Okean satellite series. An airborne multi-frequency side-looking radar system is operated in the region on a temporal basis by the Polar Research Institute for Fishery and Oceanography (pINRO) in Murmansk. Since the failure of the Almaz-l radar satellite in 1992, the Russian ice monitoring and forecasting service has not had access to satellite radar data for their sea ice monitoring efforts [Kondratyev et aI., 1992]. The operational airborne radar systems are strongly limited in both temporal and spatial coverage, and the economic situation in Russia also severely limits the use of these airborne information services [PINRO, 1991]. The next Russian satellite radar sensor scheduled to be launched on an Okean satellite in 1994 has a side-looking real aperture radar (SLR) among its payload. This sensor will operate in the 3 cm wavelength region (X-band), with a spatial resolution of 2 km and a 2.000 km wide swath. The Okean satellite series is operated by the Russian production and research establishment "NPO Planet" in Moscow. The next high resolution Russian SAR sensor will be on the Almaz-1B satellite, due to be launched in 1995. The main parts of the sensor and satellite hardware have already been built, but key parts of the integration and launch are still not decided. To complete the Almaz-1B satellite mission, international funding will be essential, and a RussianlUnited States joint venture has been set up to undertake the financing of the mission. On this background there is an evident need for access to international satellite radar sensors in support of the well established operational Russian sea ice monitoring and forecasting service. Real-time sea ice monitoring of the Northern Sea Route using ERS-l radar images

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....0..m 10 km: Field of ice Detached, linear: Belt of ice Detached, non-linear: Patch of ice Single Floe: < 100m: Small floe( s) ",,250m: Medium floe(s) >500m: Large floe(s) Scattered floes in water: Floe Field. Ice/water boundary: Edge, either Compact or Diffuse Edge extension: Tongue of ice Crest shaped edge indent: Ice Bight Eddy shaped extension / indention at or near edge: Ice edge Eddy Openings in the ice: Fracture Thin linear: Navigable linear: Lead Large, non-linear: Polynya Thickness deformations of the ice: None: Level ice Linear deformed ("screwed") ice: Ridge Non-linear deformed ice: Hummock Age of the ice: Grease ice (also: nilas) New formed thin layer: Pancake ice New formed small floes: Younger than last summer: First-year ice (FY) either Thin or Thick Second-year and Multi-year (MY) ice Older than last summer: Ice origin and motion: Land-connected stationary sea ice: Fast ice Glacier, Sheet of ice, River ice Land-connected freshwater ice: Flaw Fast-ice boundary line: Flaw-lead Narrow opening at boundary: Flaw-polynya Wide opening at boundary: Pack-ice Moving sea ice, general term: Melting: Puddles Water surfaces on the ice: Flooded ice Water-saturated snow or ice:


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