Tracking of Antarctic tabular icebergs using passive microwave radiometry

Passive microwave images of Antarctica from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) are used to track two giant tabular icebergs that originated from the Larsen ice shelf in 1986. Since microwave radiation is relatively insensitive to weather and unaffected by lighting conditions, the SSM/1 instrument provides all-weather, year-round viewing. The icebergs are visible almost every day giving an ideal temporal resolution for tracking their motion. One of the icebergs was tracked until October 1988, six months after its last position noted in the Navy/NOAA Joint Ice Centre ice charts. The tracks of both icebergs reveal motion in sympathy with observed oceanographic currents and eddies: © 1995 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.