Use of enhanced infrared satellite imagery for sea ice and oceanographic studies

Infrared (i.r.) imagery from the NOAA 2,3, and 4 satellites could be used to measure accurately the absolute temperature of the sea surface and sea water. Comparison with measured temperatures indicate that the satellite observed values are within 2°C of those measured. Contouring temperatures and observing temperature fluctuations within 0·5°C is also possible by enhancing the infrared image. This is done by confining the 16 steps of gray of the image to a desired small temperature scale. The existence of open water areas within the pack ice and the positions of the ice edges could be readily distinguishable by generating special imagery in such a way that the gray scale covers two temperature ranges with a gray tone jump at the freezing point of sea water. In this way ice-water boundary appears as a line of demarcation between two different gray tones. Because the i.r. imagery is available all year round these techniques are readily applicable at all times especially during the winter months when the low sun angles make visible imagery not useful.