Freezing and thawing of lakes on the Nelson and King George Islands, Antarctic, using Sentinel 1A synthetic aperture radar images.

This article aims to analyze the dynamics of freezing and thawing of Antarctic lakes located in ice-free areas on Nelson Island and Fildes Peninsula, where response to changes in air temperature and precipitation rates occur rapidly, during the period from July 2016 to December 2018. In these places, which are difficult to access, remote sensing is an important alternative, especially considering the use of active remote sensors such as the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which has less restriction regarding the presence of clouds over the study area. Three backscatter thresholds were defined (σ) for the identification of the physical state of the water of the lakes of the study region, applied in Sentinel 1A SAR (S1A) images under Horizontal Horizontal (HH) polarization and Interferometric Wide (IW) imaging mode. These images, along with the air temperature data obtained by the Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) atmospheric reanalysis model, provided the evidence for the interpretation of the freezing and thawing periods of the lakes. The thresholds applied for the definition of the physical state of the lake water were greater than - 14 dB for frozen water, between - 14 and - 17 dB for the surface, with up to 60% of their frozen area, and less than - 17 dB for open water. The temporal analysis revealed that the lakes start to thaw in October, become completely thawed in February, and freeze again in March. Nevertheless, it can be said that the S1A satellite allows a satisfactory identification of the liquid and solid phases of the water in the lakes of the study region.