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Radar 3: Radar detects Sea Ice and Icebergs

Written by Jürg Lichtenegger and Peter Brøgger Sørensen

The images available during the Galathea 3 expedition show mainly ocean surfaces but we have also good cases to present to you land surfaces, especially from the harbours the expedition will visit. Images with interesting features are specially commented upon and the text includes questions or a short exercise.

Radar 3: Radar detects Sea Ice and Icebergs

The main themes when looking at radar images are:

To view cities and to study their development in time
To study the ever-changing ocean surface and especially: We want to detect sea pollution!
To make sea-ice observations and help to navigate through ice-crammed sea areas.

Before we start looking at the radar images, we must recapitulate what radar does and how it works. Remember that unlike optical-infrared images, radar images do not show any colour but they depict other characteristics of the ground. These are linked to the roughness of the area (a calm sea is smooth, a stormy ocean is rough) or to the material and moisture contents of objects on the ground.

Ariane before launch of ENVISAT.