Investigating coincident L- and S-band ASAR imagery over Arctic sea ice

Our investigation into coincident L- and S-band ASAR (airborne synthetic aperture radar) imagery explored Arctic sea ice separability in the Beaufort Sea, particularly in light of the imminent launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission. Our research has revealed an improved capability to separate i) multi-year and first-year sea ice at the S-band imagery, as well as ii) a higher separability within first-year sea ice classes at L-band imagery. We have also reported that wind-roughened melt ponds show a distinct signature in the S-band. Importantly, our machine learning algorithm has achieved higher accuracy in sea ice classification at the S-band than the L-band. These findings have significant implications for the future of sea ice research and operations using SAR imagery from the NISAR mission. • Airborne L- and S-band SAR imagery are investigated over sea ice in the Beaufort Sea. • Improved multi-year ice detection is found in S-band imagery. • L-band detects thinner sea ice classes with improved accuracy. • The S-band imagery shows a higher capability to detect wind-roughened newly formed lead. • The overall accuracy of sea ice mapping is higher at the S-band than at the L-band.