Analysis of the potential of small satellites to cover the sea ice data products gap

This work reviews and analyses potentially relevant technologies to ensure that the gaps and stakeholder needs for sea ice products are covered. Each variable related to sea ice that presenting gaps using the European EO infrastructure on the horizon (2020–2030) is revised according the stakeholder requirements, together with the feasibility of deploying available technologies on small satellites. A survey of instruments oriented towards sea ice observations in the past and current is presented. Based on this survey technological capabilities in terms of the spatial resolution, swath, mass, power, and data rate are obtained. In order to identify the technologies, numerical scores are assigned based on instrument capabilities. This works concludes with a set of the technologies compatible with small platforms, with the objective to complement the sea ice data products of Copernicus Services.