The study area is located in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska.
This region is a particularly relevant area for high-resolution ice
concentration mapping research due to oil and gas exploration
in this region. The period of study is July to September. Ice
at this time of year in the Beaufort Sea is mainly a mixture of
multiyear ice, first-year ice, and some new ice. Based on CIS ice
charts, the coverage of first-year ice is between 0% and 50%,
with under 30% of coverage for most images. The coverage of
multiyear ice varies from around 30% to 90%. Packed multiyear
ice often breaks into smaller ice floes, leaving large areas of
open water between the floes, which may refreeze to form new
ice. Melting ice surfaces can be observed in this region until
October