Monitoring of Antarctic Sea Ice Based on the Multichannel MODIS Data.

In consideration of the Antarctic special environment, a new sea-ice extraction method of u-sing the 0.86 µm. and 1.24 µm wave bands of MODIS is proposed, based on the Normalize Difference Snow Index (NDSI). It can extract the sea ice under the clear sky and thin cloud condition respectively, which largely improve the efficiency and spatial resolution of Antarctic sea-ice monitoring. The new method is used to obtain the monthly sea ice images in the whole Antarctica of recent years. Then, combining the AMSR-E data, the change monitoring of Antarctic sea ice is executed. It indicates that, from 2002 to 2010, both the Antarctic sea-ice extent and sea-ice area reach the minimums in February, with the averages are 3.17 x 106 km² and 2.42 x 106 km² respectively. And the maxi-mums appear in September, with the averages are 18.440 x 106 km² and 16. 60 x 106 km². The inter annual change of Antarctic sea ice can be divided to three periods: the flat period of the year from 2002 to 2004, the reduced period of 2005 to 2007, and the increased period of 2008 to 2010. It verifies the 20 years cycle of Antarctic sea ice in the inter annual change. The change trend of the whole Antarctic sea ice is not obvious in the recent nine years [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]