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Instrument details
Acronym
SAR-X/Ku
Full name
Synthetic Aperture Radar in X- and Ku- bands
Purpose
Hydrology of the snow-melting zones
Short description
Two-frequency SAR operating in X-band (around 9.6 GHz) and Ku-band (around 17.2 GHz). Details TBD
Background
Considered payload for the Snow and Cold Land Processes (SCLP) mission, one of the US Decadal Survey, also proposed to ESA with the name of CoRH2O (Cold Regions Hydrology High-Resolution Observatory)
Scanning Technique
TBD
Resolution
Coverage / Cycle
Mass
Power
Data Rate
Providing Agency
NASA
Instrument Maturity
Demonstration pending
Utilization Period:
TBD
Last update:
2014-02-17
Detailed characteristics
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 Fraction of vegetated land Glacier motion Glacier topography Land cover Land surface topography Snow cover Snow status (wet/dry) Snow water equivalent Soil moisture at surface Soil type Vegetation type Secondary mission objectives Fire fractional cover Glacier cover Ice sheet topography Oil spill cover Sea-ice cover Sea-ice type Opportunity objectives Dominant wave direction Dominant wave period Sea-ice elevation Sea-ice thickness Significant wave height 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
Dominant wave direction 1 - primary Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR. Variable measured by spectral analysis of "imagettes"
Dominant wave period 1 - primary Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR. Variable measured by spectral analysis of "imagettes"
Fire fractional cover 3 - high Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR. High resolution, for fire boundary detection
Fraction of vegetated land 3 - high No specific limitation. X- and Ku-band SAR
Glacier cover 2 - very high Long time for mapping. X- and Ku-band SAR for accurate boundary detection
Glacier motion 4 - fair Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Glacier topography 3 - high Long time for mapping. X- and Ku-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Ice sheet topography 3 - high Long time for mapping. X- and Ku-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Land cover 3 - high No specific limitation. X- and Ku-band SAR
Land surface topography 3 - high Long time for mapping. X- and Ku-band SAR for interferometry between images taken at time intervals
Oil spill cover 1 - primary Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR
Sea-ice cover 1 - primary No specific limitation. X- and Ku-band SAR
Sea-ice elevation 4 - fair No specific limitation. X- and Ku-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry
Sea-ice thickness 4 - fair Change detection only. X- and Ku-band SAR. Sea ice elevation measured by interferometry. Thickness inferred by ice model
Sea-ice type 2 - very high No specific limitation. X- and Ku-band SAR
Significant wave height 3 - high Highly indirect.. Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR. Retrieved by spectral analysis of "imagettes". Boundary condition necessary for the retrieval
Snow cover 3 - high Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR specifically designed for snow
Snow status (wet/dry) 4 - fair Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR specifically designed for snow
Snow water equivalent 3 - high Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR specifically designed for snow
Soil moisture at surface 3 - high Strongly affected by vegetation.. Infrequent coverage. X-band SAR
Soil type 3 - high No specific limitation. X- and Ku-band SAR
Vegetation type 4 - fair No specific limitation. X- and Ku-band SAR
Wave directional energy frequency spectrum 1 - primary Infrequent coverage. X- and Ku-band SAR. Variable measured by spectral analysis of "imagettes"
Instrument: SAR-X/Ku