On the Detection of the Terra Nova Bay Open Polynya Dynamic Phases Using a Single C-Band SAR Image

In this study, a novel approach is proposed to extract dynamic information about Terra Nova Bay (TNB) polynya, Antarctica, using a single Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery collected by the Sentinel-1 mission. The proposed approach is based on a joint scattering/morphological and spectral analysis of key features, namely the sea ice streaks, that characterise polynyas. A set of single- and dual-polarimetric SAR Sentinel-1 measurements collected over the open TNB polynya under different growing and closing phases are used for the experimental analysis, which is assisted by ancillary optical and radiometer satellite products. Experimental results demonstrate the ability of co-polarised backscattering to identify the open polynya growing and closing phases using a single SAR scene. This suggests using SAR measurements to fill the temporal and spatial gaps arising from the monitoring of the harsh TNB polynya environment.