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New campaign dataset for IceSAR 2019
A new dataset has been released for the IceSAR campaign, involving X-, C-, and L-band radar data acquired over the Arctic in 2019.
IceSAR 2019
The ICESAR 2019 study was motivated by the need to improve the understanding of radar backscatter of sea ice at different wavelengths and polarisations.
Long-term satellite data show wind farms can affect local air currents
Decades of satellite data have allowed for the first long-term study of the impact of offshore wind farms on downstream wind flow in coastal areas.
ICEYE ESA archive
The ICEYE ESA archive collection consists of ICEYE Level 1 products requested by ESA supported projects over their areas of interest around the world. The dataset regularly grows as ESA collects new products over the years. Three different modes are available: Spot: With a slant resolution of 50 cm in range by 25 cm in azimuth that translated into the ground generates a ground resolution of 1 m over an area of 5 km x 5 km. Due to multi-looking, speckle noise is significantly reduced Strip: The ground swath is 30 x 50 km2 and the ground range resolution is 3 m Scan: A large area (100 km x 100 km is acquired with ground resolution of 15 m). Two different processing levels: Single Look Complex (SLC): Level 1A geo-referenced product and stored in the satellite's native image acquisition geometry (the slant imaging plane) Ground Range Detected (GRD): Level 1B product; detected, multi-looked and projected to ground range using an Earth ellipsoid model; the image coordinates are oriented along the flight direction and along the ground range; no image rotation to a map coordinate system is performed, interpolation artefacts not introduced. The following table defines the offered product types: EO-SIP Product Type Mode Processing level XN_SM__SLC Strip Single Look Complex (SLC) - Level 1A XN_SM__GRD Strip Ground Range Detected (GRD) - Level 1B XN_SL__SLC Spot Single Look Complex (SLC) - Level 1A XN_SL__GRD Spot Ground Range Detected (GRD) - Level 1B XN_SR__GRD Scan Ground Range Detected (GRD) - Level 1B As per ESA policy, very high-resolution data over conflict areas cannot be provided.
TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X WorldDEM data now available to users
WorldDEM products have been added to the TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X offering and are now available to users for research and application development following submission of a project proposal subject to evaluation and acceptance by ESA and the data owner.
Earth Observation data to improve navigation risk modelling and shipping routes
With the increased frequency of shipping activities, such as tourism and transport of freights, navigation safety has become a major concern. Even if new technologies have already supplied aids to pilots for navigation risk reduction, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) reports that the majority of accidents could have been avoided by providing suitable input to the navigation decision-making process — this is where Earth Observation data can represent complementary information, to improve traffic monitoring and guidance along safe routes.
ICEYE full archive and tasking
ICEYE full archive and new tasking products are available in Strip, Spot, SLEA (Spot Extended Area), Scan, and Dwell modes: Strip instrument mode: the ground swath is illuminated with a continuous sequence of pulses while the antenna beam is fixed in its orientation. This results in a long image strip parallel to the flight direction: the transmitted pulse bandwidth is adjusted to always achieve a ground range resolution of 3 m Spot instrument mode: the radar beam is steered to illuminate a fixed point to increase the illumination time, resulting in an extended Synthetic aperture length, which improves the azimuth resolution. Spot mode uses a 300 MHz pulse bandwidth and provides a slant plane image with a resolution of 0.5 m (range) by 0.25 m (azimuth); when translated into the ground, the products has 1 m resolution covering an area of 5 km x 5 km. Due to multi-looking, speckle noise is significantly reduced As an evolution of Spot mode, SLEA (Spot Extended Area) products are available with the same resolution of Spot data but a scene size of 15 km x 15 km Scan Instrument mode: the phased array antenna is used to create multiple beams in the elevation direction which allows to acquire a large area (100km x 100km) with resolution better than 15m. To achieve the finest image quality of its Scan image, ICEYE employs a TOPSAR technique, which brings major benefits over the quality of the images obtained with conventional SCANSAR imaging. With the 2-dimensional electronic beam steering, TOPSAR ensures the maximum radar power distribution in the scene, providing uniform image quality. Dwell mode: with the satellite staring at the same location for up to 25 seconds, Dwell mode is a very long Spot mode SAR collection. This yields a very fine azimuth resolution and highly-reduced speckle. The 25 second collection time allows the acquired image stack to be reconstructed as a video to give insight into the movement of objects. Two different processing levels can be requested: Single Look Complex (SLC): Single Look Complex (SLC) Level 1a products consist of focused SAR data geo-referenced using orbit and attitude data from the satellite and the scenes are stored in the satellite's native image acquisition geometry which is the slant-range-by-azimuth imaging plane and with zero-Doppler SAR coordinates. The pixels are spaced equidistant in azimuth and in slant range. The products include a single look in each dimension using the full transmit signal bandwidth and consist of complex magnitude value samples preserving both amplitude and phase information. No radiometric artefacts induced by spatial resampling or geocoding. The product is provided in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF5) plus a xml file with selected metadata Ground Range Detected (GRD): Ground Range Detected (GRD) Level 1b products consist of focused SAR data that has been detected, multi-looked and projected to ground range using an Earth ellipsoid model. The image coordinates are oriented along the flight direction and along the ground range. Pixel values represent detected magnitude, the phase information is lost. The resulting product has approximately square spatial resolution pixels and square pixel spacing with reduced speckle due to the multi-look processing at the cost of worse spatial resolution. No image rotation to a map coordinate system has been performed and interpolation artefacts are thus avoided. The product is provided in GeoTiff plus a xml file with selected metadata. Strip Spot SLEA Scan Dwell Ground range resolution (GRD) 3 m 1 m 1 m 15 m 1 Ground azimuth resolution (GRD) 3 m 1 m 1 m 15 m 1 Slant range resolution (SLC) 0.5 m - 2.5 m 0.5 m 0.5 m 0.5 m Slant azimuth resolution (SLC) 3 m 0.25 m 1 m 0.05 m Scene size (W x L) 30 x 50 km2 5 x 5 km2 15 x 15 km2 100 x 100 km2 5 x 5 km2 Incident angle 15 - 30° 20 - 35° 20 - 35° 21 - 29° 20 - 35° Polarisation VV All details about the data provision, data access conditions and quota assignment procedure are described in the ICEYE Terms of Applicability. In addition, ICEYE has released a public catalogue that contains nearly 18,000 thumbnails under a creative common license of radar images acquired with ICEYE's SAR satellite constellation all around the world from 2019 until October 2020. Access to the catalogue requires registration. As per ESA policy, very high-resolution data over conflict areas cannot be provided.
Earth Online Newsletter - 19 July 2024
This issue of the Earth Online Newsletter covers a selection of the latest news and events from ESA.
icesar-2019-final-report
This report provides technical assistance for sea ice measurements during the IceSAR-2019 Experiment
GSCB and LTDP
The Copernicus programme is based on a fleet of European Earth observation satellites, built and operated by ESA, member states and commercial entities. Copernicus will also offer data from non-European satellites.
Fringe-2011-workshop-recommendations.pdf
This document contains the recommendations from the session summaries of the Fringe 2011 Workshop.
SEASAR 2012
The European Space Agency and the Norwegian Space Centre jointly organised the fourth SAR oceanography workshop, 'SEASAR 2012', entitled 'Advances in SAR Oceanography'.
Fringe 2011 Workshop
Fringe 2011 was the 8th International Workshop on "Advances in the Science and Applications of SAR Interferometry".
PAZ data now available to users worldwide
ESA is pleased to announce the availability of the PAZ satellite products to the scientific community, for R&D activities and start-ups.
ICEYE data available for assessment
The SAR user community is invited to participate to the call to assess the suitability of the ICEYE constellation, for science and EO-based applications.
ICEYE-SAR-Product-Guide-V4.pdf
The ICEYE SAR Product Guide provides the SAR Product Specifications, a detailed description of the Image Ordering process, and related supporting information.
TerraSARSIM
The objectives of the TerraSAR SIM project were to quantify the impact of the time intervals between SAR acquisitions at different wavelengths on agricultural applications.
TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X
The TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellites feature a unique geometric accuracy that is unmatched by any other spaceborne sensor.
3rd Advanced Training Course on Land Remote Sensing 2011
This 2011 advanced ESA training course focused on land remote sensing theory and applications.
POLinSAR 2005
The objectives of the POLinSAR 2005 workshop was to present the latest studies and results of SAR polarimetry and polarimetric interferometry.