The AutoICE Challenge
Abstract
Abstract. Mapping sea ice in the Arctic is essential for maritime navigation, and growing vessel traffic highlights the necessity of timeliness and accuracy of sea ice charts. In addition, with the increased availability of satellite imagery, automation is becoming more important. The aim of the AutoICE Challenge was to encourage the creation of models capable of mapping sea ice automatically from spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery using deep learning while inspiring participants to move towards multiple sea ice parameter model retrieval instead of the current focus on a single sea ice parameter, such as concentration. Participants were tasked with the development of machine learning algorithms mapping the total sea ice concentration, stage of development and floe size using a state-of-the-art sea ice dataset with dual-polarised Sentinel-1 SAR images and 22 other relevant variables while using professionally labelled sea ice charts from multiple national ice services as reference data. The challenge had 129 teams representing a total of 179 participants, with 34 teams delivering 494 submissions, resulting in a participation rate of 26.4 %, and was won by a team from the University of Waterloo. Participants were successful in training models capable of retrieving multiple ice parameters with convolutional neural network and vision transformer models. The top participants scored best on the total sea ice concentration and stage of development, while the floe size was more difficult. Furthermore, participants offered intriguing approaches and ideas that could help propel future research within automatic sea ice mapping, such as applying high downsampling of SAR data to improve model efficiency and produce better results.
Authors 35
-
Andreas Stokholm corresponding
European Space Agency · European Space Research Institute · DTU Space · Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
ϕ-lab, European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), European Space Agency (ESA)
-
Jørgen Buus-Hinkler corresponding
Danish Meteorological Institute
Affiliation as printed
Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI)
-
Tore Wulf corresponding
Danish Meteorological Institute
Affiliation as printed
Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI)
-
Anton Andreevich Korosov corresponding
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center
Affiliation as printed
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC)
-
Roberto Saldo corresponding
DTU Space · Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
-
Leif Toudal Pedersen corresponding
DTU Space · Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
-
David Arthurs corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Polar View
-
Ionut Dragan corresponding
Affiliation as printed
SpaceTec Partners
-
Iacopo Modica corresponding
Affiliation as printed
GMATICS
-
Juan Pedro corresponding
Affiliation as printed
EarthPulse
-
Annekatrien Debien corresponding
Affiliation as printed
SpaceTec Partners
-
Xinwei Chen corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Muhammed Patel corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Fernando J. Pena Cantu corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Javier Noa Turnes corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Jinman Park corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Linlin Xu corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Andrea K. Scott corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
David A. Clausi corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Yuan Fang corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Mingzhe Jiang corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Saeid Taleghanidoozdoozan corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Neil C. Brubacher corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Armina Soleymani corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Zacharie Gousseau corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo
-
Jacek Komorowski corresponding
Warsaw University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Warsaw University of Technology
-
David Rijlaarsdam corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Ubotica Technologies
-
Affiliation as printed
Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, Leiden University
-
Jens Jakobsen corresponding
Danish Meteorological Institute
Affiliation as printed
Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI)
-
Martin S. J. Rogers corresponding
Affiliation as printed
AI Lab, British Antarctic Survey
-
Nick Hughes corresponding
Norwegian Meteorological Institute
Affiliation as printed
Norwegian Ice Service, Norwegian Meteorological Institute
-
Tom Zagon corresponding
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Affiliation as printed
Canadian Ice Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada
-
Rune Solberg corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Norwegian Computing Center (NR)
-
Nicolas Longépé corresponding
European Space Agency · European Space Research Institute
Affiliation as printed
ϕ-lab, European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), European Space Agency (ESA)
-
Matilde Brandt Kreiner corresponding
Danish Meteorological Institute
Affiliation as printed
Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI)
Cited by 1 stored of 1
1 result
No patents citing this paper on Lens.org (checked 2026-10-11).