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Instrument details
Acronym
L-SAR
Full name
L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar
Purpose
High-resolution all-weather land observation specifically designed for topography and change detection
Short description
L-band SAR, frequency around 1.27 GHz, interferometry implemented by flying on two parallel-orbiting satellites [see details in the table below]
Background
Heritage of the mission implemented by TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X
Scanning Technique
Side-looking, incidence angle 26.3º - 47.0º, addressable right and left
Resolution
7 m azimuth
Coverage / Cycle
Global coverage in 4 days
Mass
Power
Data Rate
Providing Agency
DLR
Instrument Maturity
Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period:
TBD
Last update:
2021-08-30
Detailed characteristics
Operation mode
Resolution
Swath
Polarisations
Large swath
7 m
350 km
HH or VV
Narrow swath
7 m
175 km
VV/HH, HH/HV, VV/VH
Satellites this instrument is flying on
Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a
green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates
future satellites
Instrument classification
Earth observation instrument Active and radio-occultation sensor Imaging radar (SAR)
WIGOS Subcomponents
Subcomponent 1 SAR imager Subcomponent 3 Low-frequency SAR for vegetation mapping
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives Biomass Fraction of vegetated land Land cover Land surface topography Oil spill cover Sea-ice cover Sea-ice type Soil moisture at surface Secondary mission objectives Glacier cover Glacier motion Glacier topography Ice sheet topography Sea-ice elevation Sea-ice thickness Snow water equivalent Soil moisture (in the roots region) Opportunity objectives Dominant wave direction Dominant wave period Fire fractional cover Significant wave height Soil type Vegetation type Wave directional energy frequency spectrum Show all Show fewer
Tentative Evaluation of Measurements
The following list indicates which measurements can typically be
retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable,
click on the respective variable.
Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Variable Relevance for measuring this variable Operational limitations Explanation
Biomass 2 - very high Index only.. Infrequent coverage. L-band sensitive to total biomass
Dominant wave direction 5 - marginal Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR. Variable measured by spectral analysis of "imagettes"
Dominant wave period 5 - marginal Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR. Variable measured by spectral analysis of "imagettes"
Fire fractional cover 3 - high Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR. High resolution, for fire boundary detection
Fraction of vegetated land 5 - marginal No specific limitation. L-band SAR
Glacier cover 1 - primary Long time for mapping. L-band SAR for accurate boundary detection
Glacier motion 2 - very high Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Glacier topography 2 - very high Long time for mapping. L-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Ice sheet topography 2 - very high Long time for mapping. L-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Land cover 5 - marginal No specific limitation. L-band SAR
Land surface topography 2 - very high Long time for mapping. L-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Oil spill cover 2 - very high Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR
Sea-ice cover 1 - primary No specific limitation. L-band SAR
Sea-ice elevation 5 - marginal No specific limitation. L-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry
Sea-ice thickness 5 - marginal Change detection only. L-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry. Thickness inferred by ice model
Sea-ice type 3 - high No specific limitation. L-band SAR. Type interpreted as age/roughness
Significant wave height 5 - marginal Highly indirect.. Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR. Retrieved by spectral analysis of "imagettes". Boundary condition necessary for the retrieval
Snow water equivalent 4 - fair Change detection only.. Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR. SWE is retrieved by grigging with data from ground networks
Soil moisture (in the roots region) 2 - very high Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR
Soil moisture at surface 2 - very high Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR
Soil type 5 - marginal No specific limitation. L-band SAR
Vegetation type 5 - marginal No specific limitation. L-band SAR
Wave directional energy frequency spectrum 5 - marginal Infrequent coverage. L-band SAR. Variable measured by spectral analysis of "imagettes"
Instrument: L-SAR