Sea Ice Remote Sensing Using GNSS-R: A Review

Abstract

Knowledge of sea ice is critical for offshore oil and gas exploration, global shipping industries, and climate change studies. During recent decades, Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) has evolved as an efficient tool for sea ice remote sensing. In particular, thanks to the availability of the TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) data over high-latitude regions, remote sensing of sea ice based on spaceborne GNSS-R has been rapidly growing. The goal of this paper is to provide a review of the state-of-the-art methods for sea ice remote sensing offered by the GNSS-R technique. In this review, the fundamentals of these applications are described, and their performances are evaluated. Specifically, recent progress in sea ice sensing using TDS-1 data is highlighted including sea ice detection, sea ice concentration estimation, sea ice type classification, sea ice thickness retrieval, and sea ice altimetry. In addition, studies of sea ice sensing using airborne and ground-based data are also noted. Lastly, applications based on various platforms along with remaining challenges are summarized and possible future trends are explored. In this review, concepts, research methods, and experimental techniques of GNSS-R-based sea ice sensing are delivered, and this can benefit the scientific community by providing insights into this topic to further advance this field or transfer the relevant knowledge and practice to other studies.