Synthetic Aperture Radar Data

Full description

GA is the custodian of a 20 year archive of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data covering the Australian continent that can be used to observe cm-scale ground motion and surface texture associated rock type, changes in vegetation or floods. SAR is an airborne or spaceborne side-looking radar system that actively transmits microwave radiation towards earth. The resulting imagery is very different from optical data and can be collected regardless of weather conditions and at any time of day. Images pairs can be used for interferometry to accurately determine surface elevation and to construct digital elevation models or to measure cm-scale changes in surface position. Alternatively, the amplitude and polarity of single images can be used to characterise surface textures for the purpose of identifying types and or changes in surface materials. The SAR sensors for this collection are ESA's two C-band European Remote Sensing (ERS) satellites, ERS-1 (30/07/1991-10/03/2000) and ERS-2 (13/07/1995-05/09/2011). GA plans to add data from several of the upcoming missions (at least five are planned during the next five years) providing continuing coverage of Australia. Ongoing processing of the SAR data will produce measurements of ground motion that will be incorporated into the data collection.

Lineage

Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded

Statement: Data was observed by the ERS1 and ERS2 satellites, acquired by Geoscience Australia at its observatories at Alice Springs, and processed to Level 0 format by Geoscience Australia.