Engineering topics

Holt, Benjamin

Publications and source records attributed to Holt, Benjamin.

35 records · Page 2

NASA NTRS1994

The geophysical processor system: Automated analysis of ERS-1 SAR imagery

The Geophysical Processor System (GPS) at the Alaska (U.S.) SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Facility (ASF) uses ERS-1 SAR images as input to generate three types of products: sea ice motion, sea ice type, and ocean wave spectra. The GPS, operating automatically with minimal human intervention, delivers its output to the Archive and Catalog System (ACS) where scientists can search and order the products on line. The GPS has generated more than 10,000 products since it became operational in Feb. 1992, and continues to deliver 500 new products per month to the ACS. These products cover the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and the western portion of the central Arctic Ocean. More geophysical processing systems are needed to handle the large volumes of data from current and future satellites. Images must be routinely and consistently analyzed to yield useful information for scientists. The current GPS is a good, working prototype on the way to more sophisticated systems.

Stern, Harry L.↗

NASA NTRS1993

(abstract) Examining Sea Ice SAR Signatures in the Arctic

This research examines the seasonal changes of the sea ice cover in the Arctic Basin as it responds to atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Monitoring this process provides a means of determining the onset and extent of the annual seasonal stages, which is thought to be an indicator for detecting climate change in the polar regions. Much of the response of sea ice to seasonal conditions results in changes in the phase of water (both in the ice and snow cover), surface roughness, and internal properties such as air bubbles. Imagery from SAR has proven to be an important tool for revealing these changes since radar backscatter is affected by both surface roughness and dielectric properties of water and salt. The major ice types and ice features may have unique SAR backscatter signatures because of the inherent variations in surface roughness, salinity, and internal properties in each category.

change surface roughness dielectric properties↗

NASA NTRS1993

Sea ice radar signatures from ERS-1 SAR during late Summer and Fall in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas

A study which examines ERS-1 C band SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) imagery of sea ice obtained in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas from mid Summer through Fall freeze up and early Winter in 1991 is presented. Radar backscatter statistics of sea ice were obtained from the imagery, using common floes tracked through consecutive repeat images whenever possible. During the Summer months, strong fluctuations in ice signatures of several dB are observed over 2 to 3 day periods, which are found to be closely related to air temperature excursions above and below freezing that alters the phase of the ice surface. As air temperatures drop steadily below freezing in the Fall, the signatures of the pack ice increase in brightness and become more stable with time. Multiyear ice is distinguished from rough and smooth first year ice. There are also variations in the multiyear signatures with latitude. Large variations are seen in new ice and open water contained within leads which results in ambiguous classification.

Holt, Benjamin↗

NASA NTRS1992

Identification of sea ice types in spaceborne synthetic aperture radar data

This study presents an approach for identification of sea ice types in spaceborne SAR image data. The unsupervised classification approach involves cluster analysis for segmentation of the image data followed by cluster labeling based on previously defined look-up tables containing the expected backscatter signatures of different ice types measured by a land-based scatterometer. Extensive scatterometer observations and experience accumulated in field campaigns during the last 10 yr were used to construct these look-up tables. The classification approach, its expected performance, the dependence of this performance on radar system performance, and expected ice scattering characteristics are discussed. Results using both aircraft and simulated ERS-1 SAR data are presented and compared to limited field ice property measurements and coincident passive microwave imagery. The importance of an integrated postlaunch program for the validation and improvement of this approach is discussed.

Kwok, Ronald↗

NASA NTRS1991

Applications of the EOS SAR to monitoring global change

The SAR employed by NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) is a multifrequency multipolarization radar which can conduct global monitoring of geophysical and biophysical parameters. The present discussion of the EOS SAR's role in global monitoring emphasizes geophysical product variables applicable to global hydrologic, biogeochemical, and energy cycle models. EOS SAR products encompass biomass, wetland areas, and phenologic and environmental states, in the field of ecosystem dynamics; soil moisture, snow moisture and extent, and glacier and ice sheet extent and velocity, in hydrologic cycle studies; surface-wave fields and sea ice properties, in ocean/atmosphere circulation; and the topography, erosion, and land forms of the solid earth.

Schier, Marguerite↗

NASA NTRS1991

Waves in frazil and pancake ice and their detection in Seasat synthetic aperture radar imagery

Measurements of wavelength and direction derived from SAR imagery obtained from Seasat in October 1987 are compared with a theoretical model of waves propagating into an ice cover composed of frazil and pancake ice. The dispersion relation for phase and group velocities is derived, and the existence of an upper frequency limit for propagation into the ice is found. The wave radiation pressure exerted on the ice is derived from the reflection coefficient at the ice edge; it is found to cause a slick of frazil ice backed by thicker floes to become more dense or thick with increasing penetration. When the frazil ice becomes transformed into pancake ice, the raised edges of the pancakes cause the ice to appear bright despite the fact that there are no waves present at the Bragg wavelength. Directional wave number spectra are derived outside and inside the ice cover. The change of wavelength and angle of refraction of the dominant wave entering the ice field are both found to be characteristic of the dispersion relation derived theoretically.

Wadhams, Peter↗

NASA NTRS1991

Satellite observations of mesoscale features in lower Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait, Gulf of Alaska

The Seasat satellite launched in Summer 1978 carried a synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Although Seasat failed after 105 days in orbit, it provided observations that demonstrate the potential to examine and monitor upper oceanic processes. Seasat made five passes over lower Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait, Alaska, during Summer 1978. SAR images from the passes show oceanographic features, including a meander in a front, a pair of mesoscale eddies, and internal waves. These features are compared with contemporary and representative images from a satellite-borne Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), with water property data, and with current observations from moored instruments. The results indicate that SAR data can be used to monitor mesoscale oceanographic features.

Schumacher, James D.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Wave propagation in the marginal ice zone - Model predictions and comparisons with buoy and synthetic aperture radar data

Ocean wave dispersion relation and viscous attenuation by a sea ice cover are studied for waves propagating into the marginal ice zone (MIZ). The Labrador ice margin experiment (LIMEX), conducted on the MIZ off the east coast of Newfoundland, Canada in March 1987, provided aircraft SAR imagery, ice property and wave buoy data. Wave energy attenuation rates are estimated from SAR data and the ice motion package data that were deployed at the ice edge and into the ice pack, and compared with a model. It is shown that the model data comparisons are quite good for the ice conditions observed during LIMEX 1987.

Liu, Antony K.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The role of the EOS SAR in Mission to Planet Earth

The Earth Observing System (EOS) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a multifrequency, multipolarization radar which will be capable of the global monitoring of key quantitative measurements of geophysical and biophysical parameters. Scheduled to fly on its own dedicated spacecraft, it is one of three platforms that will make up the space-based component to EOS. The role of the SAR in the EOS mission is discussed, wtih emphasis on the geophysical product variables which will be generated with the SAR and used in global hydrologic, biogeochemical and energy cycle models. The latest concepts for processing the data, including calibration and geophysical processing strategies, are presented.

Holt, Benjamin↗

NASA NTRS1989

Estimation of the two-dimensional ocean current shear field with a synthetic aperture radar

A double inverse method to convert SAR data to estimates of current shear was developed theoretically. Problems of applying the technique to real SAR data were examined. The first step of the inversion process involved elimination of noise in the (x-vector, k-vector) wave spectra deduced from SAR images. The second step, estimation of current shear, required the existence of well defined swell and a favorable single of interaction between swell and ocean current. Application of the method in the Antarctic circumpolar current encountered sea conditions that both satisfied and violated these requirements. Where the wave-current geometry was favorable, realistic surface current velocity fields were obtained, suggesting the presence of a substantial mesoscale eddy. Another attempt to apply the method in the Gulf Stream produced wave spectral estimates that showed no clear peak and hence produced no current estimates.

Barnett, Tim P.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Overview of LIMEX'87 ice observations

Ice observations, results, and conclusions are summarized for the March 1987 Labrador Ice Margin Experiment (LIMEX'87), an international oceanographic study conducted in the pack ice of the Grand Banks area off the coast of Newfoundland. Included are the ice extent, floe size and thickness, ice kinematics and rheology, ice microwave properties, oceanic properties under the ice, and penetration of swell into the ice.

Carsey, Frank D.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Ice classification algorithm development and verification for the Alaska SAR Facility using aircraft imagery

The Alaska SAR Facility (ASF) at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks is a NASA program designed to receive, process, and archive SAR data from ERS-1 and to support investigations that will use this regional data. As part of ASF, specialized subsystems and algorithms to produce certain geophysical products from the SAR data are under development. Of particular interest are ice motion, ice classification, and ice concentration. This work focuses on the algorithm under development for ice classification, and the verification of the algorithm using C-band aircraft SAR imagery recently acquired over the Alaskan arctic.

Holt, Benjamin↗

NASA NTRS1988

The Shuttle Imaging Radar B (SIR-B) experiment report

The primary objective of the SIR-B experiment was to acquire multiple-incidence-angle radar imagery of a variety of Earth's surfaces to better understand the effects of imaging geometry on radar backscatter. A complementary objective was to map extensive regions of particular interest. Under these broad objectives, many specific scientific experiments were defined by the 43 SIR-B Science Team members, including studies in the area of geology, vegetation, radar penetration, oceanography, image analysis, and calibration technique development. Approximately 20 percent of the planned digital data were collected, meeting 40 percent of the scientific objectives. This report is an overview of the SIR-B experiment and includes the science investigations, hardware design, mission scenario, mission operations, events of the actual missions, astronaut participation, data products (including auxiliary data), calibrations, and a summary of the actual coverage. Also included are several image samples.

Cimino, Jo Bea↗

NASA NTRS1988

Wind, current and swell influences on the ice extent and flux in the Grand Banks-Labrador sea area as observed in the LIMEX '87 experiment

This paper presents data collected by airborne and satellite instruments during the Labrador Ice Margin Experiment, that demonstrate the effects of oceanic and atmospheric processes on the ice conditions in the Grand Banks-Labrador sea area. Special consideration is given to the development of algorithms for extracting information from SAR data. It is shown that SAR data can be used to monitor ice extent, determine ice motion, locate shear zones, monitor the penetration of swell into the ice, estimate floe sizes, and establish the dimensions of the ice velocity zones. It is also shown that the complex interaction of the ice cover with winds, currents, swell, and coastlines is similar to the dynamics established for a number of sites in both polar regions.

Argus, Susan Digby↗

NASA NTRS1987

Beaufort-Chukchi ice margin data from Seasat - Ice motion

The motion of sea ice in the summer and fall marginal zone of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas is observed by tracking ice features in sequential Seasat synthetic aperture radar images. Four examples of ice motion fields are shown and discussed with translation observation density finer than one observation per 5 km for the most part. In this region the components of proportional relative motion are shown to commonly have values in the range 0.1 to 0.25/day throughout the marginal zone, which itself has a scale of the order of 100 km.

Carsey, Frank↗

NASA NTRS1987

Shuttle Imaging Radar B (SIR-B) Weddell Sea ice observations - A comparison of SIR-B and scanning multichannel microwave radiometer ice concentrations

Ice concentrations over the Weddell Sea were studied using SIR-B data obtained during the October 1984 mission, with special attention given to the effect of ocean waves on the radar return at the ice edge. Sea ice concentrations were derived from the SIR-B data using two image processing methods: the classification scheme at JPL and the manual classification method at Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), England. The SIR ice concentrations were compared with coincident concentrations from the Nimbus-7 SMMR. For concentrations greater than 40 percent, which was the smallest concentration observed jointly by SIR-B and the SMMR, the mean difference between the two data sets for 12 points was 2 percent. A comparison between the JPL and the SPRI SIR-B algorithms showed that the algorithms agree to within 1 percent in the interior ice pack, but the JPL algorithm gives slightly greater concentrations at the ice edge (due to the fact that the algorithm is affected by the wind waves in these areas).

Martin, Seelye↗

NASA NTRS1986

Ocean waves near Hurricane Josephine from SIR-B

Radar images of ocean surface waves near hurricane Josephine were acquired with the Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B) system on October 12, 1984. Fast Fourier transform analyses of the images were performed along most of the 600-km image track. These data reveal the presence of at least two dominant wave systems which undergo significant spatial variations in wavelength and direction.

Holt, Benjamin↗