AbstractCanada's RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) will have the capacity to acquire C-band compact polarimetry (CP) data in all imaging modes, over swaths up to 500 km wide. Our study aimed to assess and develop the utility of RCM CP data for the purpose of lake ice breakup monitoring. The breaking ice and open water information content of RADARSAT-2 (R2) polarimetric data and simulated RCM CP data was compared. Despite relative losses in terms of polarization diversity and radiometric sensitivity, RCM-type CP data were concluded to make a good source of information in support lake ice breakup monitoring. For that reason, a CP-based approach, named CP_LakeIceBC, to classify breaking ice and open water for the purpose of lake ice [...]
