Future NASA Earth-Orbiting Radar Missions
Two Earth-orbiting radar missions are planned in the near future by NASA - Shuttle Radar Topography Mapping (SRTM) and LightSAR.
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Two Earth-orbiting radar missions are planned in the near future by NASA - Shuttle Radar Topography Mapping (SRTM) and LightSAR.
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Interferometric processing of a suitable pair of SAR images can.
Mount Rainier was selected as a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior. The purpose of this selection is to focus scientific and public attention on Mount Rainier during the current decade, the United Nations-designated International Decade of Natural Hazard Reduction. The Mount Rainier science plan calls for remote sensing surveys to monitor the volcano. To date, we have conducted airborne surveys with visible and near-infrared, thermal infrared, and interferometric radar instruments. Our preliminary analysis of some night-time time-series thermal infrared survey data sets of the summit suggests that, aside from seasonal variations in snow cover, there have been no qualitative changes in the size or pattern of the summit hot spots. Day-time airborne surveys were done to record the current surface appearance of the volcano and map hydrothermal alteration in the summit region. An interferometric radar survey yielded a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) which serves as a base for the registration of the other remote sensing data sets. More importantly, the DEM documents the current topography of glaciers and valleys. Planned biannual radar survey of mount rainier will produce a data set from which seasonal changes in glacier and valley topography can be characterized. Such characterization is essential if we are to recognize geothermally induced changes in snow and ice cover.
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This article describes past and current achievements in the development of space-borne imaging radar technology and discusses possibilities for the future. The article focuses on space-borne capabilities for civil and scientific purposes.
The Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C, X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) was launched on space shuttle Endeavour at 7:05 AM EDT, Saturday, April 9, 1994. Soon after launch, the radars were activated and began around the clock operations which lasted for the next 10 days.
The Wide Swath Ocean Altimeter (WSOA) is a recently proposed interferometric instrument that would provide nearly complete global ocean topography measurements from a single platform. Several new algorithm and technology developments improve the expected WSOA performance, and facilitate the feasibility of including WSOA on a next generation altimeter mission. Those developments are discussed in this paper.
In this paper we show our first POLINSAR results using the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). UAVSAR is a L-band repeat-pass polarimetric and interferometric system designed for measuring vegetation structure and monitoring crustal deformations. In order to extract canopy height from POLINSAR data and account for temporal decorrelation, we formulate a physical model of the temporal-volumetric coherence, random motion over ground (RMOG) model. Canopy height extracted from single-baseline UAVSAR data using the RMOG model is shown to be in agreement with canopy height measured by the Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS) lidar.
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The Earth-orbiting radar missions are planned for the near future by NASA - Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and LightSar.
In this paper, the analysis of a JPL TOPSAR data set collected in April 1998 over Central Oregon focuses on the relative contributions of interferometric, polarimetric, and multifrequency data types to improving vegetation, parameter-estimate accuracy.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) along track interferometry (ATI) has been used extensively to measure ocean surface currents. Given its ability to measure small velocities of relatively radar-dark water surfaces, there is great potential that this technique can be adapted for ground moving target indication (GMTI) applications, particularly as a method for detecting very slwo targets with small radar cross sections. In this paper we describe preliminary results from an ATI GMTI experiment.
A high-resolution map of lunar radar reflectivity is presented which was obtained at a wavelength of 7.5 m with a radar resolution of 25 to 40 km by a combination of delay-Doppler radar techniques and interferometry. The results are given in the forms of a radar map of normalized echo power and plots of average scattering. A consistent difference in scattering between maria and terrae is observed, along with small differences in scattering between eastern and western maria. Specifically, it is found that the terrae reflect two to four times as much power as the maria, that the weakest echoes come from the youngest and western maria, that a few terra areas have suprisingly weak echoes, and that the average scattering behavior at 7.5 m is remarkably close to the behavior at 68 cm. The results also indicate that the large rayed craters have relatively weak enhancements of 1 to 1.5 over their environs, that the maria and terrae have essentially the same backscattering behavior as a function of incidence angle, and that the average scattering behavior of the moon and the limb darkening at 7.5 m are similar to those at 68 cm.
It is pointed out that dealiasing of Doppler weather radar velocity measurements is identical to the problem of phase unwrapping encountered in radar and optical interferometry. A technique developed for phase unwrapping in interferometric synthetic aperture radar is described and successfully applied to weather radar velocity dealiasing.
A highly accurate global topographic map of the Earth's surface has been an elusive goal for at least three decades that may soon be achieved with the newly acquired Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) data. SRTM collected data for 99.97% of the Earth's landmass between -57 degrees and 60 degrees latitude during a 11 day mission in February, 2000. A modified version of the SIR-C radar that previously flew on the shuttle in 1994 augmented with a radar mounted on a 62 m boom was used to collect radar interferometric data at C (5.6 cm wavelength) and X (3 cm wavelength) bands. The C-band radar was operated in the SCANSAR mode in order to extend the swath width to 225 km the minimal amount required to achieve contiguous coverage at the equator. This paper presents an overview of the new algorithms and techniques used to process the SCANSAR data to digital elevation maps. First results of topographic maps generated from the SRTM data are used to illustrate the techniques described in this paper.
The uses of radar observations of planets and very-long-baseline radio interferometric observations of extragalactic objects to test theories of gravitation are described in detail with special emphasis on sources of error. The accuracy achievable in these tests with data already obtained, can be summarized in terms of: retardation of signal propagation (radar), deflection of radio waves (interferometry), advance of planetary perihelia (radar), gravitational quadrupole moment of sun (radar), and time variation of gravitational constant (radar). The analyses completed to date have yielded no significant disagreement with the predictions of general relativity.