1. The International Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for RADARSAT-1 will
expire and the United States’ National Ice Center (NIC) will no longer
have free access to RADARSAT-1 data. In 2007, the NIC processed and analyzed
10,750 images from the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) to cover the Bering
Sea, Cook Inlet, Chukchi Sea, West Arctic Basin, Beaufort Sea, and portions
of the Northern Sea Route.
2. Limited funding for RADARSAT-1 & 2 data over the ASF region will help
meet U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard requirements, but all requirements will
not be satisfied.
3. Because there will no longer be free-access to RADARSAT-1 data and future
funding must meet all Synthetic Aperture Radar requirements for the sea-ice
analyses, the NIC expects to experience a 74% decrease in RADARSAT coverage
within the ASF region.
4. The NIC is currently receiving near-real time (within 1 hour of downlink)
RADARSAT-1 data from the ASF for operational use. When RADARSAT-2 is declared
operational, ASF will no longer downlink RADARSAT-1 data under the International
MOU. To date, the ASF does not have the capability to receive/process RADARSAT-2
data. Also, when this capability is obtained, the use of the onboard recorder
over this area will reduce the amount of data available to meet the NIC’s
operational demands because of its limited storage capacity.
5. This major shift in RADARSAT will not have significant affects on the production
of weekly chart analysis; however, it will impact the ability of the NIC to
provide near-real time support to vessels operating within this area.
6. The NIC is working to secure funding for additional data over the ASF and
Great Lakes regions with ENVISAT, ALOS, and ERS-2.
7. To help ensure that a high level of sea ice products and support are maintained by the NIC, please forward any feedback and/or questions to the NIC’s Liaison Officer at liaison@natice.noaa.gov. A customer survey is also available on the NIC’s website at http://www.natice.noaa.gov.