Development of sea-ice thickness algorithm from PALSAR data, combined with in-situ observations and other satellite data

In order to estimate the sea-ice thickness distribution in the seasonal ice zone (SIZ), we are developing the algorithm with PALSAR data. As a preliminary step, airborne Polarimetric and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (Pi-SAR) observation, conducted in the southern Sea of Okhotsk in February 2005, was examined to validate the retrieval of ice thickness distribution from L-band SAR. In conjunction with the airborne SAR observation, in-situ ice thickness and ice-surface roughness measurements were performed in the same area with ship-borne electromagnetic inductive sounding (EM) and ultra-sonic profiling, respectively. The result indicated the possibility of ice thickness retrieval from the L-band SAR backscattering data. Therefore we planned ice observation in the Sea of Okhotsk in February 2007, coordinated with ALOS orbit path, to apply this to PALSAR data. This paper will present the preliminary result and also introduce our ongoing plan for the Antarctic sea ice.