Space Radar Laboratory-1 (SRL-1) Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic

Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) Images on FTP and WWW

BRIEF

The Space Radar Laboratory-1 (SRL-1) was a payload launched with the Space Shuttle "Endeavor" (STS-59) on April 9, 1994. The SRL-1 comprises two elements: a suite of radar instruments called the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR), and the Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellite (MAPS) instrument. The SIR-C/X-SAR radar was jointly developed by NASA with DARA of Germany and ASI of Italy.

Images obtained from the SIR-C/X-SAR are available from the NASA JPL FTP server and through the NASA JPL World Wide Web Home Page:

FTP: ftp jplinfo.jpl.nasa.gov cd sircxsar subdirectories containing information and images

WWW: URL: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

The objectives of the SIR-C/X-SAR were to provide information about the Earth's land surfaces including vegetation coverage, snow pack extent, wetlands, geologic features, volcanic processes, ocean wave heights and wind speeds over the oceans. The most useful feature of imaging radar is its ability to make measurements over any region at any time regardless of weather or sunlight. The SIR-C/X-SAR is a synthetic aperture radar that transmits pulses of microwave energy from the Shuttle toward Earth and measures the strength and time delay of the energy scattered back to the SIR-C/X-SAR antenna. The motion of the Shuttle between the transmission of the beam and the reception of the backscattered radiation is used to "synthesize" or create an antenna (aperture) much longer than the actual antenna. This results in finer resolution images.

The SIR-C/X-SAR scientific team has identified more than 400 sites where data will be taken. Nineteen of the sites are designated "supersites", making them priority targets for scientific investigations. There are an additional 15 backup supersites. The supersites were chosen to represent different environments within each scientific discipline. The following are areas of investigation and supersites for the SRL mission:

* Ecology: Manaus, Brazil; Raco Mich.; Duke Forest, N.C.; Central Europe.

Radar images will be used to study land use, vegetation extent, effects of fires, floods, and clear-cutting, soil moisture, forest dynamics.

* Hydrology: Chickasha, OK; Otztal, Austria; Bebedouro, Brazil; Montespertoli, Italy

Radar images will be used to study snow cover, wetlands, and soil moisture patterns.

* Oceanography: Gulf Stream, Northeast Atlantic Ocean; Southern Ocean

Radar images to study surface and internal waves, oceanic wind speed, and currents.

* Geology: Galapagos Islands; Sahara Desert; Death Valley, CA; Andes Mountains, Chile; Mount Pinatubo

Radar imagery to map geologic structures, areas of erosion and volcanic activity, paleoclimatic sites in arid regions, geologic evidence of past climate changes, surface roughness.

The following SIR-C/X-SAR images are available in JPEG or GIF format along with ASCII text captions:

Raco, Mich. Death Valley, CA Prince Albert, Canada Kamchatka, Russia Otztal, Austria Mammoth, CA Galapagos Islands Isla Isabela Mt. Pinatubo Kiluea, Hawaii Safsaf, North Africa Manaus, Brazil inundation map Raco, Mich. vegetation map Raco, Mich. biomass map Mammoth land cover map Mammoth 3-D map

Additional images will be added.

ATTRIBUTES

Entry_ID: SRL-1_SIRC_XSAR (MD Identifier: 5516)
 
Temporal Coverage:
     From: 1994-04-09                 TO: 1994-04-18 
 
Geographic Coverage:
     Southwest Extent: 70S,180E    Northeast Extent:  70N,180E
 
Source:
     SPACE SHUTTLE
     SRL-1>Space Radar Laboratory-1
     STS-59>Space Radar Laboratory-1
 
Sensor:
     SIR-C>Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C
     X-SAR>X-Band Synthetic Radar
 
Storage Media:
     on-line
 
Discipline, Subdiscipline:
     EARTH SCIENCE                   > INTERIOR AND CRUST
     EARTH SCIENCE                   > LAND
     EARTH SCIENCE                   > OCEAN
 
Location Keyword:
     GLOBAL
 
Parameter Group, Parameter:
     GEODYNAMIC FEATURES             > EROSION
     GEODYNAMIC FEATURES             > TERRAIN ELEVATION
     GEODYNAMIC FEATURES             > VOLCANOES
     GEOGRAPHY AND LAND COVER        > ELEVATION
     GEOGRAPHY AND LAND COVER        > LANDFORMS
     GEOGRAPHY AND LAND COVER        > RIVERS
     GEOGRAPHY AND LAND COVER        > SNOW
     GEOGRAPHY AND LAND COVER        > SOILS
     GEOGRAPHY AND LAND COVER        > SURFACE VEGETATION
     GEOGRAPHY AND LAND COVER        > SURFACE WATER
     GEOGRAPHY AND LAND COVER        > TOPOGRAPHIC DATA
     GEOGRAPHY AND LAND COVER        > WETLANDS
     GEOLOGICAL PARAMETERS           > LITHOLOGY
     GEOLOGICAL PARAMETERS           > PETROLOGY
     GEOLOGICAL PARAMETERS           > SOILS
     GEOLOGICAL PARAMETERS           > STRATIGRAPHY
     HYDROLOGIC PARAMETERS           > EROSION
     HYDROLOGIC PARAMETERS           > RIVERS
     HYDROLOGIC PARAMETERS           > SOIL MOISTURE
     HYDROLOGIC PARAMETERS           > SURFACE WATER
     HYDROLOGIC PARAMETERS           > WETLANDS
     RADIANCE AND IMAGERY            > RADAR
 
General Keywords:
     BIOMASS
     FTP
     IDN_NODE GSFC/JPL
     IMAGES
     LAND COVER
     RADAR
     VEGETATION
     WWW
 
Science Review Date: 1994-04-20
 
Revision Date: 1994-04-20
 
Quality Statement:

DATACENTER

Archive: 
   JPL>Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA
 
   Contact: JPL PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE,  
 
            Electronic Mail: INTERNET> newsdesk@jpl.nasa.gov

PERSONNEL

Entry Author: MAJOR, GENE R.
 
              Electronic Mail: INTERNET> MAJOR@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV
                               NSI/DECNET> NSSDCA::MAJOR
 
              Phone: (301) 441-4199
 
 
Information in this entry provided by JPL

REFERENCE

SUP_MENU

   1. Source: SPACE RADAR LABORATORY-1>Space Radar Laboratory-1
  
   2. Source: SPACE RADAR LABORATORY-1>Space Radar Laboratory-1
  
   3. Sensor: SPACEBORNE IMAGING RADAR-C>Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C