Mohamed Babiker

• PhD
• Researcher at Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center

A new Sentinel-1 image-based sea ice classification algorithm using a machine-learning-based model trained in a semi-automated manner is proposed to support daily ice charting. Previous studies mostly rely on manual work in selecting training and validation data. We show that the readily available ice charts from the operational ice services can re...

A new Sentinel-1 image-based sea ice classification algorithm is proposed to support automated ice charting. Previous studies mostly rely on manual work in selecting training and validation data. We show that the use of readily available ice charts from an operational ice services allow to automate selection of large amount of training/testing data...

The Arctic ocean is becoming increasingly accessible due to melting sea ice caused by global warming. This opens for increased exploitation of energy resources and fish stocks, whereas new potential shipping routes can reduce transportation times and fuel costs. Kara Sea region is important both for economic and environmental reasons due to the ext...

The thermal noise-induced distortions in a Sentinel-1 terrain observation with progressive scans synthetic aperture radar image cannot be corrected by the noise equivalent sigma nought (NESZ) subtraction only. Since the thermal noise is scaled during synthetic aperture radar processing, it resides not only as an additive noise in each pixel but als...

The intensity of a Sentinel-1 Terrain Observation with Progressive Scans synthetic aperture radar image is disturbed by additive thermal noise, particularly in the cross-polarization channel. Although the European Space Agency provides calibrated noise vectors for noise power subtraction, residual noise contributions are significant when considerin...

An ocean acoustic tomography system consisting of three moorings with low frequency, broadband transceivers and a moored receiver located approximately in the center of the triangle formed by the transceivers was installed in the central, deep-water part of Fram Strait during 2010–2012. Comparisons of the acoustic receptions with predictions based...

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from RADARSAT-2 (RS2) in dual-polarization mode provide additional information for discriminating sea ice and open water compared to single-polarization data. We have developed an automatic algorithm based on dual-polarized RS2 SAR images to distinguish open water (rough and calm) and sea ice. Several technical i...

Acoustic experiments using an integrated ice station were carried out during August 2012 and September 2013 in the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) of Fram Strait. The two experiments lasted four days each and collected under-ice acoustic recordings together with wave-in-ice and meteorological data. Synthetic aperture radar satellite data provided informati...

Fram Strait is the only deep-water connection between the Arctic and the world oceans. An acoustic system for tomography, glider navigation, and passive listening was installed in the central, deep-water part of the Strait during 2010–2012, with the primary objective of improving the estimates of transport through the Strait. Previous tomographic m...

Fram Strait is the only deep-water connection between the Arctic and the world oceans. On the eastern side, the northbound West Spitsbergen Current transports warm Atlantic water into the Arctic, while on the western side the southbound East Greenland Current transports sea ice and polar water from the Arctic to the Nordic Seas and Atlantic Ocean....

The marine soundscape of the Fram Strait has been subject to investigations since the mid 1980's. Increasing interest in Arctic operations has initiated a recent series of acoustic experiments that includes synoptic ambient noise measurements in the Marginal Ice Zone conducted over the years 2010-2012. This presentation will give an overview of the...

Petermann Glacier is a marine-terminating outlet glacier that had a 70 km-long floating ice tongue prior to a∼270 km2 calving event that was observed from satellite sensors in August 2010, shortening the ice tongue by∼27 km. Further, in July 2012, another 10 km was lost through calving. In order to understand these events in perspective, here the a...

Greenland's marine-terminating glaciers drain large amounts of solid ice through calving of icebergs, as well as melting of floating glacial ice. Petermann Glacier, North Greenland, has the Northern Hemisphere's long floating ice shelf. A massive (~270 km2) calving event was observed from satellite sensors in August 2010. In order to understan...

This paper summarizes the different Oil in Ice Joint Industry Program (JIP) remote sensing activities carried out from 2007 to 2009, including: technology review and selection, airborne systems, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery, trained dogs, and airborne Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). A key finding is that flexible combinations of...

The major marine-terminating outlet glaciers of Greenland can undergo large mass losses through calving of icebergs and bottom melting from floating ice tongues. Recent observations of outlet glaiers around Greenland have shown that large and rapid changes in solid-ice fluxes are possible. The Petermann glacier in remote northern Greenland is the r...

Studies of iceberg detection in the Franz Josef land region have been performed by use of optical images in combination with and Synthetic Aperture Radar images during April 2006. Alternating Polarization (AP) images (HH-and VV-pol) from ASAR and RADARSAT ScanSAR Narrow images were tested against Landsat images for identification of 15 icebergs of...

Remote-sensing techniques including synthetic aperture radar (SAR) have been used successfully for supporting navigation in the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Section 6.1 presents the ®rst series of demonstration campaigns, starting in 1991, using SAR image data from ERS-1, ERS-2 and Radarsat. Section 6.2 is a description of the campaigns from 2003 to 2...

In this study the focus is on a part of the Red Sea Hills of Sudan, an area which suffers from a severe shortage of groundwater. This shortage is partly because the precipitation in this area is very small, from a maximum of only 164 mm year−1 to a minimum of 36 mm year−1. Partly, however, the shortage is related to the generally low permeability o...

The volcano-tectonic evolution of the Red Sea area prior to the initiation of continental stretching (since 35 Ma) and sea-floor spreading (since 5 Ma) is still poorly known. Here we present results of a study of more than 2000, mostly mafic and fresh, dykes from the Haya area, located at the west margin of the Red Sea in the Red Sea Hills of Sudan...

During the last years the world has seen many disasters in which a large amount of people have died due to limited efficiency of relief-operations, e.g. in Ethiopia and Rwanda. The aim of the European Commission sharecost project ENVIREF (www.enviref.org) is to demonstrate the pre-operational use of satellite remote sensing techniques for more effi...

During the last years the world has seen many disasters in which a large amount of people have died due to limited efficiency of relief-operations, e.g. in Ethiopia and Rwanda. The aim of the European Commission share-cost project ENVIREF (www.enviref.org) is to demonstrate the pre-operational use of satellite remote sensing techniques for more eff...