Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, North Slave Region
| Principal Investigator: | van der Sanden, Joost J. (4) |
| Licence Number: | 17609 |
| Organization: | Natural Resources Canada, Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2024
|
| Issued: | Nov 17, 2024 |
| Project Team: | Byung-Hun Choe, Hugo Drouin, TBD , |
Objective(s): This project aims to evaluate and develop the use of data from Canada’s RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) for the monitoring of lake ice breakup and freeze-up processes. The accuracy of the developed image processing algorithms and the resulting lake ice extent map products will be assessed by means of oblique aerial photographs. Two study areas nearby Inuvik and Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories were selected for validation with aerial photographs.
Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 6026. This project aims to evaluate and develop the use of data from Canada’s RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) for the monitoring of lake ice breakup and freeze-up processes. The accuracy of the developed image processing algorithms and the resulting lake ice extent map products will be assessed by means of oblique aerial photographs. The acquisition of this photographs represents the main component of the proposed project. Two study areas nearby Inuvik and Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories were selected for validation with aerial photographs. Our research involves the acquisition of RCM satellite images over selected lakes nearby Inuvik and Yellowknife, the generation of lake ice on/off information products, and the validation of these products with the help of aerial photographs. The aerial surveys will acquire a comprehensive set of digital phtographs, associated GPS tracks, and supporting notes documenting the lake ice and weather conditions (e.g., estimate of the ice cover percentage, presence of snow cover and fractures, termperature, wind) in the region of interest. The lake ice extent maps will be produced by our lake ice classification model with the RCM satellite images, and then validated with the geotagged airphotographs on the same acqusiition dates. The acquisition of aerial photographs will be contracted out to local organizations/businesses. Separate contracts for photography and air charter services are anticipated. For the 2024 freeze-up season in Yellowknife., a geomatics professional and photographer and rotary wing aircraft services through the NRCan's Polar Continental Shelf Program (PCSP) were contracted out. The results of the project will be published in government reports and journals. On request, the project team will be available to discuss its results, in person or virtually, with interested community members. In addition, the findings are anticipated to be presented at conferences (e.g., Yellowknife Geoscience Forum, Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing). A factsheet describing the overall nature of the project is available on the NRCan/CCRS website (http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/permafrost-ice-snow/lake-river-ice/9164 ). Ultimately, this project aims to develop of tool that allows for the monitoring of lake ice breakup and freeze-up processed by means of RCM images. This tool will be implemented in the SAR Toolbox (ST) comprised in NRCan’s Earth Observation Data Management System (EODMS) and will be available to all vetted users of RCM data products. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: December 03 - December 31, 2024
