ISSN 2070-7401 (Print), ISSN 2411-0280 (Online)
Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa
CURRENT PROBLEMS IN REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH FROM SPACE

  

Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2022, Vol. 19, No. 6, pp. 195-204

Satellite monitoring of the ice cover in the area of the Kerch Strait

A.G. Kostianoy 1, 2 , E.A. Kostianaia 1 , O.Yu. Lavrova 3 
1 Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS, Moscow, Russia
2 Moscow Witte University, Moscow, Russia
3 Space Research Institute RAS, Moscow, Russia
Accepted: 23.11.2022
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2022-19-6-195-204
The article presents the results of satellite monitoring of the ice cover of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait and the Taganrog Bay in particular. Monitoring was carried out on the basis of daily radar images (RI) of the sea surface acquired by Sentinel-1A/B SAR C (Synthetic Aperture Radar) with a spatial resolution of 20 m. In January-March 2021, 77 radar images were received and analyzed, and from December to March 2022 — 56 radar images for the Kerch Strait area and 52 radar images for the Taganrog Bay region. It is shown that in these two winters, ice was actually absent in the area of the Kerch Strait and formed only in the Taganrog Bay, which is the coldest area of the Sea of Azov. The absence of ice in the Kerch Strait is confirmed by the relatively high air temperature in winter over the same area. An analysis of the interannual variability of the ice cover of the Sea of Azov from 1980 to 2020 showed significant interannual variability with a sharp decrease in ice cover after the winter of 2017. This is due to an increase in air temperature in winter, for example, the average monthly air temperature in the Kerch Strait area has not dropped below zero since the winter of 2012. According to the MERRA-2 (Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications) atmospheric reanalysis, from January 2010 to September 2022, the average monthly air temperature in the Kerch Strait area increased at a rate of about 1 °C per ten years, which is twice the trend calculated for the period 1980–2020.
Keywords: Black Sea, Sea of Azov, Kerch Strait, Taganrog Bay, Crimean Bridge, ice cover, air temperature, satellite images, satellite monitoring, satellite radar imagery
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