MERCATOR OCEAN JOURNA: 
SEPTEMBER 2021 
Furthermore, size parameters (iceberg length, iceberg 
area and more) can be obtained from attribute tables in the 
shape file. The number density products (datasets 1 to 4) 
naturally do not contain information on individual icebergs 
but netCDF files contain statistical layers with anomalies 
indicating whether observations are normal or unusua: 
(Le., more or less extreme counts). 
0 
5 
10 
15 
20 
Number of icebergs per 
grid-cell (10x10 km) 
-ıgure a: icebergs detected in Sentinel-1 EW mode during 2020-12-28 to 2021-01-01 with zoomed view also showing iceberg number 
densities 
During the coming years more and more satellite SAR 
imagery will become available. To assimilate new data, 
new and Improved iceberg detection techniques will 
be developed. One of the most early next steps to be 
ımplemented is the automation of ships removal (falsely 
identified as icebergs). This will be based on retrieval and 
matchup with AIS ship tracking data. 
1.2 The ice chart products 
The Sea Ice TAC ice chart products are based on ice charts 
from the national ice services at MET Norway, DMI and FMI 
covering European regions of the Arctic and the Baltic. Ice 
charts are oroduced by skilled sea ice analysts based on 
a subjective analysis of the latest available observations 
from: satellite imagery, weather and oceanographic 
information, visual observations from ships. The main 
satellite source used is the SAR satellite imagery, due to its 
high resolution, all-weather day and night ability. 
With the start of Sentinel-1A data in 2015 and Sentinel- 
‚B in 2016 there has been a significant improvement in 
the temporal and spatial coverage of SAR. Sea ice analysts 
leverage both Sentinel-1 data in EW and IW mode, as wel 
as SAR imagery from the Copernicus Contributing Missions 
(CCM); CosmoSkyMed, TerraSar-X and Radarsat-2 
Analysts also use optical/IR data from Sentinel-2 and 
Sentinel-3, when cloud free and timely available and 
AMSR2 microwave radiometer.