Novaya Zemlya bora and polar cyclones in spaceborne SAR and optical imagery

Abstract

Mesoscale meteorological phenomena, such as Novaya Zemlya bora and polar cyclones, have been studied based on the respective signatures in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of the sea surface using remote sensing methods. The local bora covers both coastal and open-sea zones of the Barents Sea to the west of Novaya Zemlya and can lead to catastrophic consequences in coastal waters of the archipelago. Another interesting and hardly predictable phenomenon is polar cyclones. The development of especially intensive and catastrophic polar cyclones can be traced using multisensor and multispectral imagery. It has been shown that the application of spaceborne SARs and optical sensors enables real time detection, forecast, and monitoring of Novaya Zemlya bora and polar cyclones in the Barents Sea, giving ground for their detail research.