MDA’s Information Systems group announced today that it has signed a contract to provide the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) with RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2 data to create up-to-date ice charts and reports that are sent via satellite to ships navigating the ice-infested Greenland Sea.
Early in the RADARSAT program, DMI partnered with MDA to pioneer the use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for ice monitoring. DMI was one of the first operational users to choose RADARSAT because of its ice-specific benefits and MDA’s operational focus. MDA has been supplying DMI with RADARSAT-1 images since 1998 and RADARSAT-2 images since 2008. The capabilities provided by RADARSAT enable DMI to produce the timely and reliable information required for demanding ice monitoring operations.
RADARSAT provides the best available ice discrimination and feature classification performance, and is the sensor of choice to support high-latitude maritime navigation and operations. RADARSAT-2 delivers multi-polarization imaging options that dramatically improve ice-edge detection, ice-type discrimination, and ice topography and structure information. With scenes 500 km wide, the swath widths offered by RADARSAT’s ScanSAR modes make it the ideal sensor for broad area ice monitoring.
With longer operating seasons due to global climate change, more commercial and military vessels travel along northern routes. This increased traffic requires that DMI have access to a huge volume of imagery about their areas of responsibility. RADARSAT is the only instrument that can provide DMI with the broad area coverage, high resolution, frequent revisit, and near real-time delivery of information that is critical for monitoring these areas.
About DMI:
DMI is responsible for serving the meteorological needs of society within the kingdom of Denmark (Denmark, the Faroes and Greenland) including territorial waters and airspace. The primary aim of DMI’s activities is to safeguard human life and property, as well as to provide a foundation for economic and environmental planning – especially within the armed forces, aviation, shipping and road traffic. DMI runs an ice patrol service based in Narsarsuaq (southern Greenland) that observes the sea ice and icebergs along the coasts of Greenland, draws up ice charts and solves other safety-related tasks for navigation in Greenland marine waters.
