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Instrument details
Acronym
PALSAR
Full name
Phased-Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar
Purpose
High-resolution all-weather soil moisture and ocean surface features observation
Short description
L-band SAR, frequency 1.27 GHz, multi-polarisation and variable pointing/resolution [see detailed characteristics below]
Background
New development
Scanning Technique
Side-looking, 10-51° off-nadir, swath 40 to 350 km, depending on operation mode - See table
Resolution
7 to 100 m, depending on operation mode
Coverage / Cycle
Global coverage in minimum 2 weeks, depending on operation mode (duty cycle 17.5 min/orbit)
Mass
600 kg
Power
2000 W
Data Rate
240 Mbps
Providing Agency
JAXA
Instrument Maturity
Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period:
2006 to 2011-04-22
Last update:
2012-09-11
Detailed characteristics
Operation mode Resolution Swath Polarisation Incidence angle
Highest resolution
7-44 m
40-70 km
HH or VV
8-60°
High resolution
14-89 m
40-70 km
HH/HV or VV/VH
8-60°
ScanSAR
100 m
250-350 km
HH or VV
18-43°
Polarimetry
24-89 m
30 km
HH/HV + VV/VH
8-30°
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
No WIGOS subcomponents have been defined.
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: PALSAR