Satellite Monitoring of Lead Motion in the Ice Pack of the Beaufort Sea – A Case Study with High Resolution Imagery

In September of 2014, the development and evolution of a lead in the ice pack of the Beaufort Sea was observed by TerraSAR-X (TSX) and optical satellites from the Medea Program over the course of five days. The lead opened up amid a cluster of buoys deployed during the ONR Marginal Ice Zone summer ice campaign of that year. We present a high resolution case study tracking the development and drift of this feature, combining SAR, optical, and in-situ measurements as co-validation. Feature-based tracking methods in analysis of five sequential TSX StripMaps (3 m resolution) and 3 coincident optical images (1 m resolution) give motion estimates which are corroborated with buoy motions. Such motion estimates can be used in the calculation of the stresses and strains in the ice pack which are important parameters to sea ice modelers, and are applicable to ship navigation in ice-covered waters. Furthermore, our feature-based case study serves as a comparison to tracking methods used on larger spatial scales, providing insight at a high level of detail into the forces and conditions at play in the evolution and motion of an ice feature in the Arctic.