The role of cross-polarization in producing high-resolution pan-arctic sea ice motion from the RADARSAT constellation mission over several years
Type: Journal Article Venue: Remote Sensing of Environment Year: 2026
Abstract
We introduce a new pan-Arctic Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) HIgh-Resolution sea Ice Tracking System (HIRITS) operating with the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) HH and HV synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images resampled at a resolution of 80 m. The spacing between neighbour output vectors was often around 1 km. When combining HH and HV, the resulting ice displacements (over 2 h to 3.5 days) derived for June 1, 2022 – May 31, 2025 were in an excellent agreement with International Arctic Buoy Programme data with the overall root-mean square error (RMSE) of 1.48 km, and correlation of 0.996 for the x and y components. Ice motion vectors provided by HV had consistently greater tracking cross-correlation coefficients (with the average value of 0.56) than those derived from HH (average value of 0.45), implying a higher confidence. The RCM HH + HV ice motion agreed well with the existing passive microwave products from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) with RMSEs of 4.19 km/d and 5.03 km/d respectively. We introduced an aggregated sea ice motion pan-Arctic gridded product at 2 km resolution that combines individual RCM ice motion products (HH and HV) derived over 3- and 7-day rolling time windows. A greater number of vectors was derived from HV compared to HH across the pan-Arctic domain, except for the situations where the HV signal is low, such as over smooth land fast ice. The new RCM HH + HV products generated since mid-May 2022 will substantially benefit various applications that require sea ice motion at high spatial resolution including accurate computation of sea ice deformation.
Citation
Alexander S. Komarov, Mathieu Plante, Jean-François Lemieux, Stephen E. L. Howell, and Mike Brady (2026). The role of cross-polarization in producing high-resolution pan-arctic sea ice motion from the RADARSAT constellation mission over several years. Remote Sensing of Environment. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2025.115175
BibTeX
@article{komarov_role_2026,
title = {The role of cross-polarization in producing high-resolution pan-Arctic sea ice motion from the {RADARSAT} Constellation Mission over several years},
volume = {334},
issn = {0034-4257},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425725005796},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2025.115175},
abstract = {We introduce a new pan-Arctic Environment and Climate Change Canada ({ECCC}) {HIgh}-Resolution sea Ice Tracking System ({HIRITS}) operating with the {RADARSAT} Constellation Mission ({RCM}) {HH} and {HV} synthetic aperture radar ({SAR}) images resampled at a resolution of 80 m. The spacing between neighbour output vectors was often around 1 km. When combining {HH} and {HV}, the resulting ice displacements (over 2 h to 3.5 days) derived for June 1, 2022 – May 31, 2025 were in an excellent agreement with International Arctic Buoy Programme data with the overall root-mean square error ({RMSE}) of 1.48 km, and correlation of 0.996 for the x and y components. Ice motion vectors provided by {HV} had consistently greater tracking cross-correlation coefficients (with the average value of 0.56) than those derived from {HH} (average value of 0.45), implying a higher confidence. The {RCM} {HH} + {HV} ice motion agreed well with the existing passive microwave products from the National Snow and Ice Data Center ({NSIDC}) and Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility ({OSI} {SAF}) with {RMSEs} of 4.19 km/d and 5.03 km/d respectively. We introduced an aggregated sea ice motion pan-Arctic gridded product at 2 km resolution that combines individual {RCM} ice motion products ({HH} and {HV}) derived over 3- and 7-day rolling time windows. A greater number of vectors was derived from {HV} compared to {HH} across the pan-Arctic domain, except for the situations where the {HV} signal is low, such as over smooth land fast ice. The new {RCM} {HH} + {HV} products generated since mid-May 2022 will substantially benefit various applications that require sea ice motion at high spatial resolution including accurate computation of sea ice deformation.},
pages = {115175},
journaltitle = {Remote Sensing of Environment},
author = {Komarov, Alexander S. and Plante, Mathieu and Lemieux, Jean-François and Howell, Stephen E. L. and Brady, Mike},
date = {2026-03-31},
keywords = {Arctic, Cross-polarization ({HV}) added value, {HIgh}-Resolution Ice Tracking System ({HIRITS}), {RADARSAT} Constellation Mission ({RCM}), Sea ice motion, Synthetic aperture radar ({SAR})},
}