Search

This work presents various normalized difference water indices (NDWI) to delineate lakes from Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica, by using a very high resolution WorldView-2 (WV-2) satellite imagery. Schirmacher oasis region hosts a number of fresh as well as saline water lakes, such as epishelf lakes, ice-free or landlocked lakes, which are completely frozen or semi-frozen and in a ice-free state. Hence, detecting all these types of lakes distinctly on satellite imagery was the major challenge, as the spectral characteristics of various types of lakes were identical to the other land cover targets. Multiband spectral index pixel-based approach is most experimented and recently growing technique because of its unbeatable advantages such as its simplicity and comparatively lesser amount of processing-time. In present study, semiautomatic extraction of lakes in cryospheric region was carried out by designing specific spectral indices. The study utilized number of existing spectral indices to extract lakes but none could deliver satisfactory results and hence we modified NDWI. The potentials of newly added bands in WV-2 satellite imagery was explored by developing spectral indices comprising of Yellow (585 – 625 nm) band, in combination with Blue (450 – 510 nm), Coastal (400 – 450 nm) and Green (510 – 580 nm) bands. For extraction of frozen lakes, use of Yellow (585 – 625 nm) and near-infrared 2 (NIR2) band pair, and Yellow and Green band pair worked well, whereas for ice-free lakes extraction, a combination of Blue and Coastal band yielded appreciable results, when compared with manually digitized data. The results suggest that the modified NDWI approach rendered bias error varying from ~1 to ~34 m 2 .

High-resolution pansharpened images from WorldView-2 were used for bathymetric mapping around Larsemann Hills and Schirmacher oasis, east Antarctica. We digitized the lake features in which all the lakes from both the study areas were manually extracted. In order to extract the bathymetry values from multispectral imagery we used two different models: (a) Stumpf model and (b) Lyzenga model. Multiband image combinations were used to improve the results of bathymetric information extraction. The derived depths were validated against the in-situ measurements and root mean square error (RMSE) was computed. We also quantified the error between in-situ and satellite-estimated lake depth values. Our results indicated a high correlation (R = 0.60~0.80) between estimated depth and in-situ depth measurements, with RMSE ranging from 0.10 to 1.30 m. This study suggests that the coastal blue band in the WV-2 imagery could retrieve accurate bathymetry information compared to other bands. To test the effect of size and dimension of lake on bathymetry retrieval, we distributed all the lakes on the basis of size and depth (reference data), as some of the lakes were open, some were semi frozen and others were completely frozen. Several tests were performed on open lakes on the basis of size and depth. Based on depth, very shallow lakes provided better correlation (≈ 0.89) compared to shallow (≈ 0.67) and deep lakes (≈ 0.48). Based on size, large lakes yielded better correlation in comparison to medium and small lakes.

A robust monitoring of the changes in the distribution and density of cryospheric plant species requires accurate and high-resolution baseline maps of vegetation. Mapping such change at the landscape scale is often problematic, particularly in remote areas, such as Antarctica. Vegetation mapping of plant communities at fine spatial scales is increasingly supported by remote sensing technology in cryospheric regions. Less frequent imaging with high spatial resolution satellite sensors enable more detailed analyses of vegetation change frequently. This study is the first to use high-resolution WorldView-2 (WV-2) imagery to classify vegetation communities on Antarctic oases and to provide semi-automated means to map vegetation, as an imperative indicator for environmental change. Multispectral imagery (MSI) and panchromatic imagery (PAN) from very high resolution WV-2 have been used for mapping of vegetation in different forms in Antarctic environment. A range of supervised classification methods have been executed using pan-sharpened WV-2 data. This study comparatively and statistically evaluates vegetation mapping results using supervised and unsupervised classification methods to extract vegetation in Larsemann Hills and Schirmacher oasis, east Antarctica. We also discuss on the use of supervised pixel-based classifiers and textural measures, in addition to standard multispectral information, to improve the classification of Antarctic vegetation communities. Classification results were validated with independent reference datasets. This work indicates that the overall accuracy of mapping vegetation using WV-2 imagery and semi-automated target extraction methods ranged from 90% to 94%.

Digital elevation model (DEM) is indispensable for analysis such as topographic feature extraction, ice sheet melting, slope stability analysis, landscape analysis and so on. Such analysis requires a highly accurate DEM. Available DEMs of Antarctic region compiled by using radar altimetry and the Antarctic digital database indicate elevation variations of up to hundreds of meters, which necessitates the generation of local improved DEM. An improved DEM of the Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica has been generated by synergistically fusing satellite-derived laser altimetry data from Geoscience Laser Altimetry System (GLAS), Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMP) elevation data and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) global elevation data (GDEM). This is a characteristic attempt to generate a DEM of any part of Antarctica by fusing multiple elevation datasets, which is essential to model the ice elevation change and address the ice mass balance. We analyzed a suite of interpolation techniques for constructing a DEM from GLAS, RAMP and ASTER DEM-based point elevation datasets, in order to determine the level of confidence with which the interpolation techniques can generate a better interpolated continuous surface, and eventually improve the elevation accuracy of DEM from synergistically fused RAMP, GLAS and ASTER point elevation datasets. The DEM presented in this work has a vertical accuracy (≈ 23 m) better than RAMP DEM (≈ 57 m) and ASTER DEM (≈ 64 m) individually. The RAMP DEM and ASTER DEM elevations were corrected using differential GPS elevations as ground reference data, and the accuracy obtained after fusing multitemporal datasets is found to be improved than that of existing DEMs constructed by using RAMP or ASTER alone. This is our second attempt of fusing multitemporal, multisensory and multisource elevation data to generate a DEM of Antarctica, in order to address the ice elevation change and address the ice mass balance. Our approach focuses on the strengths of each elevation data source to produce an accurate elevation model.

Supraglacial debris was mapped in the Schirmacher Oasis, east Antarctica, by using WorldView-2 (WV-2) high resolution optical remote sensing data consisting of 8-band calibrated Gram Schmidt (GS)-sharpened and atmospherically corrected WV-2 imagery. This study is a preliminary attempt to develop an object-oriented rule set to extract supraglacial debris for Antarctic region using 8-spectral band imagery. Supraglacial debris was manually digitized from the satellite imagery to generate the ground reference data. Several trials were performed using few existing traditional pixel-based classification techniques and color-texture based object-oriented classification methods to extract supraglacial debris over a small domain of the study area. Multi-level segmentation and attributes such as scale, shape, size, compactness along with spectral information from the data were used for developing the rule set. The quantitative analysis of error was carried out against the manually digitized reference data to test the practicability of our approach over the traditional pixel-based methods. Our results indicate that OBIA-based approach (overall accuracy: 93%) for extracting supraglacial debris performed better than all the traditional pixel-based methods (overall accuracy: 80−85%). The present attempt provides a comprehensive improved method for semiautomatic feature extraction in supraglacial environment and a new direction in the cryospheric research.

Cryospheric surface feature classification is one of the widely used applications in the field of polar remote sensing. Precise surface feature maps derived from remotely sensed imageries are the major requirement for many geoscientific applications in polar regions. The present study explores the capabilities of C-band dual polarimetric (HH & HV) SAR imagery from Indian Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) for land cryospheric surface feature mapping. The study areas selected for the present task were Larsemann Hills and Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica. RISAT-1 Fine Resolution STRIPMAP (FRS-1) mode data with 3-m spatial resolution was used in the present research attempt. In order to provide additional context to the amount of information in dual polarized RISAT-1 SAR data, a band HH+HV was introduced to make use of the original two polarizations. In addition to the data calibration, transformed divergence (TD) procedure was performed for class separability analysis to evaluate the quality of the statistics before image classification. For most of the class pairs the TD values were comparable, which indicated that the classes have good separability. Fuzzy and Artificial Neural Network classifiers were implemented and accuracy was checked. Nonparametric classifier Support Vector Machine (SVM) was also used to classify RISAT-1 data with an optimized polarization combination into three land-cover classes consisting of sea ice/snow/ice, rocks/landmass, and lakes/waterbodies. This study demonstrates that C-band FRS1 image mode data from the RISAT-1 mission can be exploited to identify, map and monitor land cover features in the polar regions, even during dark winter period. For better landcover classification and analysis, hybrid polarimetric data (cFRS-1 mode) from RISAT-1, which incorporates phase information, unlike the dual-pol linear (HH, HV) can be used for obtaining better polarization signatures.

Current research study emphasizes the importance of advanced digital image processing methods in order to delineate between various LULC features. In the case of the Antarctica, the present LC (snow/ice, landmass, water, vegetation etc.) and the present LU (research stations of various nations) needs to be mapped accurately for the hassle free routine activities. Geo-location has become the most important part of geosciences studies. In this paper we have tried to locate three most important features (snow/ice, landmass, and water) and also have extracted the extent of the same using the multisource classification (image fusion/pansharpening) and pattern recognition (supervised/unsupervised methods, index ratio methods). Innovation in developing spectral index ratios has led us to come up with an unique ratio named Normalized Difference Landmass Index (NDLI) which performed better (Avg. Bias: 51.99m) than other ratios such as Normalized Difference Snow/Ice Index (NDSII) (Avg. Bias: -1572.11m) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) (Avg. Bias: 1886.60m). The practiced trial and error methodology quantifies the productivity of not only the classification methods over one other but also that of the fusion methods. In present study, classifiers used (Mahalanobis and Winner Takes All) performed better (Avg. Bias: 122.16 m) than spectral index ratios (Avg. Bias: 620.16 m). The study also revealed that newly introduced bands in WorldView-2, band 1 (Coastal Blue), 4 (Yellow), 6 (Red-edge) and 8 (Near Infrared-2) along with traditional bands have the capacity to mine the polar geospatial information with utmost accuracy and efficiency.

High resolution satellite data provide high spatial, spectral and contextual information. Spatial and contextual information of image objects are in demand to extract the information from high resolution satellite data. The supraglacial environment includes several features that are present on the surface of the glacier. The extraction of features from supraglacial environment is quite challenging using pixel-based image analysis. To overcome this, objectoriented approach is implemented. This paper aims at the extraction of geo-information from the supraglacial environment from high resolution satellite image by object-oriented image analysis using the fuzzy logic approach. The object-oriented image analysis involves the multiresolution segmentation for the creation of objects followed by the classification of objects using the fuzzy logic approach. The multiresolution segmentation is executed on the pixel level initially which merges pixels for the creation of objects thus minimizing their heterogeneity. This is followed by the development of rule sets for the classification of various features such as blue ice, debris, snow from the supraglacial environment in WorldView-2 data. The area of extracted feature is compared with the reference data and misclassified area of each feature using various bands is determined. The present object oriented classification achieved an overall accuracy of ≈ 92% for classifying supraglacial features. Finally, it is suggested that Red band is quite effective in the extraction of blue ice and snow, while NIR1 band is effective in debris extraction.

An accurate spatial mapping and characterization of land cover features in cryospheric regions is an essential procedure for many geoscientific studies. A novel semi-automated method was devised by coupling spectral index ratios (SIRs) and geographic object-based image analysis (OBIA) to extract cryospheric geospatial information from very high resolution WorldView 2 (WV-2) satellite imagery. The present study addresses development of multiple rule sets for OBIA-based classification of WV-2 imagery to accurately extract land cover features in the Larsemann Hills, east Antarctica. Multilevel segmentation process was applied to WV-2 image to generate different sizes of geographic image objects corresponding to various land cover features with respect to scale parameter. Several SIRs were applied to geographic objects at different segmentation levels to classify land mass, man-made features, snow/ice, and water bodies. We focus on water body class to identify water areas at the image level, considering their uneven appearance on landmass and ice. The results illustrated that synergetic usage of SIRs and OBIA can provide accurate means to identify land cover classes with an overall classification accuracy of ≈97%. In conclusion, our results suggest that OBIA is a powerful tool for carrying out automatic and semiautomatic analysis for most cryospheric remote-sensing applications, and the synergetic coupling with pixel-based SIRs is found to be a superior method for mining geospatial information.