MERCATOR OCEAN JOURNA: 
SEPTEMBER 2021 
The overall increase in satellite imagery available to the 
Sea Ice TAC has improved the quality of the product due to 
an improved coverage of high spatial resolution SAR data 
This has also led to an increased number of Greenland ice 
charts being produced over the period of the Copernicus-1 
) me 
DER 
FO 
Vo Sale WEL — — 
700 am 
A 
Yan Ay 03 
EA 
phase: from 23 on average per month in 2015 to 59 in 2020. 
Also, new parameters in the Greenland ice charts were 
introduced: ice stage-of-development (ice types) and ice 
floe sizes (which have been included in Copernicus Marine 
Service since late 2020). 
a. 
© Pos 
re 
es 
ıgure zZ: Example ice charts from national ice service at MET, DMI and FMI, respectivelv. 
For all ice services, the vast amount of new Copernicus 
satellite imagery has been a driver for developing new 
methods, based on deep learning, for retrieval of sea ice 
information from SAR imagery and complementary satellite 
data. At the end of Copernicus phase-1 these automated 
sea-ice information products became inputs to the DMI 
ice analysts and thus made the ice charting process more 
effective. The development of a deep learning methodology 
for automated sea ice mapping is an upside from the close 
collaboration within Sea Ice TAC partners working on this 
field: MET, FMI, NERSC and DTU. The development will 
continue in the coming years, exploiting and preparing to 
use the next generation of Copernicus Sentinel satellites; 
the Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) and 
Rose-L missions 
1.3 Sentinel-1 L3-product 
In support of users of Sentinel-1 data a new Sentinel-1 
product was introduced in Copernicus Marine Service in 
2020. This product contains separate Sentinel-1 datasets 
ın GeoTiFF format. Datasets include sigma0 calibrated 
and thermal noise corrected Sentinel-1 Extra Wide dual 
polarization (HH/HV) data, a land mask and information 
of the local incident angle. Several individual datasets are 
delivered dailv. 
1.4 Antarctic ice edge 
Since 2015, the BAS gridded ice edge position information 
has been derived by manual interpretation of SAR data, 
primarily utilising Sentinel-1 imagery. The product provides 
a high-resolution ice edge to aid maritime users in the 
most heavily trafficked parts of the Antarctic Peninsula 
and Weddell Sea. It is used to validate the OS! SAF 
Southern Ocean sea ice classification product following 
a methodology established as part of the 0SI SAF CDOP 
Visiting Scientist scheme. 
The product has evolved since 2015 to utilise both 
Radarsat2, Sentinel-1a and Sentinel-1b5 image data. 
The area of data coverage has extended to include the 
Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas, providing greater 
coverage of validation data. The automatic NRT validation 
of the OSI SAF product has been fully implemented and is 
accessible at Polarview. 
Sontinued evolution of Southern Ocean products is driven 
bv both: 
the need for high quality hemispheric coverage of sea 
ice data to drive global forecast models, 
- maritime users needs to support safe operations as 
mandated by IMO Polar Code