US 11,940,273 B2
Method and system for determining a floe size distribution
Christopher Horvat, Providence, RI (US)
Assigned to UNIVERSITY CORPORATION FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH, Boulder, CO (US)
Appl. No. 17/429,084
Filed by UNIVERSITY CORPORATION FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH, Boulder, CO (US)
PCT Filed Jan. 24, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/014915
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 6, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/171911, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 27, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/808,658, filed on Feb. 21, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0128357 A1, Apr. 28, 2022
Int. Cl. G01C 13/00 (2006.01); G01C 21/20 (2006.01)
CPC G01C 13/00 (2013.01) [G01C 21/20 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for determining a floe size distribution for a plurality of floes within a geographical area, the method comprising:
determining a chord length distribution for the geographical area, the chord length distribution comprising a plurality of measured floe chord lengths; and
determining the floe size distribution over the geographical area based on the chord length distribution, the floe size distribution comprising a plurality of floe diameters;
wherein determining the chord length distribution for the geographical area further comprises:
receiving a first series of altimeter data corresponding to the geographical area;
identifying one or more first adjacent data points from the first series of altimeter data indicating ice to determine a first floe chord length;
identifying one or more second adjacent data points from the first series of altimeter data indicating ice to determine a second floe chord length; and
including the first floe chord length and the second floe chord length in the chord length distribution for the geographical area.