Global and Regional - ASAR

ASAR provides radar backscattering measurements which provide information about terrain characteristics such as surface roughness or moisture. ASAR has beam steering which allows imagery to be produced at different incidence angles, dual polarization and wide swath coverage.

Global Mission

 

The aim of the ASAR global mission is to provide information about: -

• Large scale vegetation change
• Mapping sea ice characteristics and distribution
• Mapping the ice sheets
• Assessing sea state conditions at a variety of scales
• Monitoring man-made pollution over the ocean

Regional Mission

The continuity of data which is reliable will provide a great contribution at the regional level for applications such as: -

• Surface deformation
• Soil moisture monitoring
• Agricultural monitoring
• Snow and ice mapping
• Coastal protection
• Tracking natural hazards

ASAR Image mode provides data in seven different swath positions (IS1-IS7), with incidence angles ranging from 15° - 45°.

Wide Swath and Global Monitoring Mode imagery should be used where medium to low resolution imagery is required this type of data is for applications requiring large area coverage with frequent revisit times. These modes provide 405m swath coverage with a spatial resolution of 150m for Wide Swath and 1000m for Global Monitoring.

The Image Mode should be used where higher resolutions are required covering an area of 100km x 100km.