Ocean Feature Analysis Using Automated Detection and Classification of Sea-Surface Temperature Front Signatures in RADARSAT-2 Images

Abstract

Canadian Navy produces a semiweekly map of major water mass boundaries in the Western North Atlantic using temperature measurements from several data sources, including satellite sea surface temperature (SST) images from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). Temporal?spatial detail that can be provided by AVHRR of the location of important SST boundaries such as the Gulf Stream North Wall is limited due to pervasive cloud cover. The ability of satellite-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to image SST front signatures unrestrained by cloud cover makes it a potentially significant additional data source. The Spaceborne Ocean Intelligence Network project has developed an automated procedure to detect candidate SST front signatures in RADARSAT-2 SAR images of the ocean surface and classify them with greater than 80% accuracy.