SEA ICE MAPPING USING ENVISAT ASAR WIDESWATH IMAGES

Sea ice mapping has been significantly improved during the last decade by introduction of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. SAR sea ice mapping started with the ERS programme and continued with RADARSAT providing ScanSAR images with operational monitoring capability. From 2003 ENVISAT Advanced SAR (ASAR) images have started to be produced over sea ice areas in the European Arctic and the Baltic Sea. This paper shows preliminary results of case studies with ASAR Wideswath Mode images in the Svalbard area. The case studies include the Svalbard area in winter and spring time where different stages of ice formation werestudied by use of ASAR images and validated by aerial photographs. The Fram Strait ice drift and area flu