Ice Charting Services And Developments With COSMO-SkyMed

The use of satellites in ice detection and monitoring applications is a very efficient way to monitor wide sea areas and relevant ice conditions, independently from the day time and weather conditions. EO SAR(Synthetic Aperture RADAR) technology is more suitable with respect to optical sensors, as SAR provides information independently on the day time and weather and allows a more accurate ice classification into different classes. SAR data provide information on the ice coverage, the size of ice floes, the shape of ice floes and the edges of ice. The COSMO-SkyMed satellite constellation in particular contributes to support Ice Services' stakeholders, as it provides worldwide SAR data with an incomparable performance in terms of revisit time, image resolution, rapid coverage of huge areas and number of acquired scenes. It provides synoptic information during day and night and at all weather conditions. e-GEOS and FMI are partnering to exploit and develop COSMO-SkyMed capabilities (X-band), for operational Ice Charting services.