Analysis of Sea Ice Concentration Distribution in Chukchi Sea for Navigational Safety Support

Abstract

With the decrease in sea ice in the North Polar regions, great increase in number of vessels using the Arctic as a shipping route is observed. For the safe navigation in the Arctic, continuous monitoring and analyzing fluctuation property of the sea ice are needed. Therefore, this study is conducted to quantitatively analyze the characteristics of the sea ice concentration (SIC) in the Chukchi Sea, the Asian gate of the Arctic Ocean, and to present the information necessary for safe marine operation. For this purpose, JAXA ASMR2 satellite images at Levels 2 and 3 from January 2015 to June 2018 were collected and analyzed to know temporal-spatial variations. In 2017, the melting period (May-August) was calculated was about 88 days, and the freezing period (November-December) was about 51 days. In June spatially averaged SIC decreased to 0.3 until early December. Analysis of the SIC standard deviation information of the lattice space over time could provide that the SIC can distinguish stable and unstable SIC during the freezing period, thereby classifying the voyage risk area to each ship classification.