Deformed ice is a general term for ice which has been squeezed together and in places forced upwards (and downwards). Subdivisions are rafted ice, ridged ice and hummocked ice. There are little to no physical observations available for the Caspian Sea region. Specifically, there is little knowledge available on spatial and temporal distribution of ice ridges. Nevertheless, these features are
... [Show full abstract] critical and have significant impact both on design of structures and planning marine operations. This article introduces results of unsupervised classification of SAR data using k-means algorithm that allows for automatic detection and segmentation of areas with low medium and high backscatter level that define degree of deformation. The method was used to interpret imagery archives for an area in the Northeastern part of the sea. Compiled time series was interpolated based on ice movement events records to ensure consistent and analyzable record. The dataset was used to derive descriptive statistics illustrating frequency of phenomena occurrence and distributions of intensity spatially and through the observations period.
