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The Second Spaceborne Imaging Radar Symposium April 28-30, 1986 Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL PUBLICATION 86-26 The Second Spaceborne Imaging Radar Symposium April 28-30, 1986 Jet Propulsion Laboratory N87-17135 THSU N87-17162 Unclas G 3/4 3 q3095 December 1, 1986 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California JPL PUBLICATION 86-26 The Second Spaceborne Imaging Radar Symposium April 28-30, 1986 Jet Propulsion Laboratory December 1, 1986 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California This publication was prepared by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .............................. GEOLOGY AND PLANETOLOGY RESEARCH Tectonic Geomorphology of the Andes With SIR-A and SIR-B A. L. Bloom and E. J. Fielding .................. Space Shuttle Radar Images of Indonesia F. F. Sabins and J. P. Ford .................... 11 Delineation of Fault Zones Using Imaging Radar M. N. Toksoz, L. Gulen, M. Prange, J. Matarese, G. H. Pettengill, and P. G. Ford ....... 17 The Megageomorphology of the Radar Rivers of the Eastern Sahara J. F. McCauley, C. S. Breed, and G. G. Schaber .......... 25 Geological Applications of Multipolarization SAR Data D. L. Evans ............................ 36 FUTURE PROJECTS Spaceborne Imaging Radar Research in the 90's C. Elachi ...................... 45 Venus Radar Mapper (VRM): Multimode Radar System Design W. T. K. Johnson and A. T. Edgerton ................ 56 Spaceborne Imaging Radar Project N. Herman ............................. 67 An Alternative Multi-Mode SAR for RADARSAT R. K. Raney ............................ 74 Present Status of Japanese ERS-I Project Y. Ishiwada and Y. Nemoto ..................... 79 A Scanning Radar Altimeter for Mapping Continental Topography T. H. Dixon ............................ 84 OCEAN AND ICE RESEARCH Hydrodynamics of Internal Solitons and a Comparison of SIR-A and SIR-B Data With Ocean Measurements J. R. Apel, R. F. Gasparovic, and D. R. Thompson ......... 91 Ocean Waves Near Hurricane Josephine From SIR-B B. Holt and F. I. Gonzalez ................ 103 iii CONTENTS(Contd) Operational WaveForecasting With Spaceborne SAR: Prospects and Pitfalls R. C. Beal ............................ 107 Imaging RadarContributions to a Major Air-Sea-Ice Interaction Study in the Greenland Sea R. A. Shuchman .......................... 114 Observing the Polar Oceans With Spaceborne Radar D. Rothrock ............................ 119 SENSOR AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY Features and Technologies of ERS-I (ESA) and X-SAR Antennas H. Sch_ssler and R. Wagner .................... 125 Off-Line Processing of ERS-I Synthetic Aperture Radar Data With High Precision and High Throughput J. Gredel, W. Markwitz, W. Noack, and G. Schreier ......... 130 Radarsat High Throughput SAR Processor Development P. George ............................. 142 The SIR-C Ground Data System: Digital Processor, Data Products, Information Flow J. C. Curlander .......................... 149 An Optimum SAR Processor _ C. M. Glass ............................ 154 _'' ECOSYSTEMS AND HYDROLOGY RESEARCH TECHNIQUES Analysis of Multiple Incidence Angle SIR-B Data for Determining Forest Stand Characteristics R. M. Hoffer, D. F. Lozano-Garcia, D. D. Gillespie, P. W. Mueller, and M. J. Ruzek ................. 159 _'_ Multiple Incidence Angle SlR-B Experiment Over Argentina J. B. Cimino, D. Casey, S. Wall, A. Brandani, G. Domik, and F. Leberl ........................... 165 Imaging Radar Polarimetry From Wave Synthesis _ H. A. Zebker, J. J. Van Zyl, and D. N. Held ............ 174 Radar Signature Determination: Trends and Limitations J. A. Richards .......................... 184 '_ SIR-B Measurements and Modeling of Vegetation _ F. T. Ulaby and M. C. Dobson ................... 191 iv CONTENTS (Contd) SIR-B REFLIGHT, SIR-C_ AND XSAR PLANNING SIR-C_ The Next Generation Spaceborne SAR E. R. Caro ............................ The X-SAR System H. _ttl .............................. 218 V ABSTRACT This document contains summaries of the papers presented at the Second Spaceborne Imaging Radar Symposium held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, California, on April 28 - 30, 1986. The purpose of the symposium was to present an overview of recent developments in the different scientific and technological fields related to spaceborne imaging radars and to present future international plans. This symposium is the second in a series of "Spaceborne Imaging Radar" symposia that are held at JPL every three years. The first was held in January 1983; the third will be held in the 1989/1990 period. vJ INTRODUCTION This document contains summaries of the papers presented at the Second Spaceborne Imaging Radar Symposium held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, California, on April 28 - 30, 1986. The purpose of the symposiumwas to present an overview of recent developments in the different scientific and technological fields related to spaceborne imaging radars and to present future international plans. Results from the recent SIR-B mission, and from the SlR-A and Seasat missions, showed that the radar is a powerful tool with a key scien- tific role in Earth observation. It provides information on the surface and near-surface physical properties that complement information acquired by visible and infrared imagers. In the area of technology, significant advances have been accomplished since the first symposiumin 1983, particularly in the areas of real-time processing and distributed transmitters/antennas. The next five years will see a very high level of activity in this field. The Magellan mission to mapVenuswith a radar sensor is scheduled for mid-1989. The EuropeanERS-I, with its complement of active microwave sensors, will be launched in late 1989. The U.S. SIR-C and German/Italian X-SARare scheduled for two flights on the space shuttle in 1990. The Japanese ERS-I is scheduled for 1991. A number of promising efforts to conduct collaborative scientific experiments are ongoing. Onegoal of these efforts is a standard- ized output data format that will facilitate this cooperation. In addition, plans for the Earth Orbiting System (EOS) will be finalized in the next few years thus setting the framework for the activity in the mid-to-late 1990s. C. Elachi SymposiumChairman Geology and Planetology Research c'i_.CEDING PAGE BLANK NOT FILMED N87- 17136 TECTONIC GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE ANDES WITH SIR-A AND SIR-B Arthur L. Bloom and Eric J. Fielding Department of Geological Sciences and Institute for the Study of Continents, Cornell University Ithaca, New York Data takes from SIR-A and SIR-B crossed all of the principal geomorphic provinces of the central Andes between 17 ° and 34°S latitude (Figure I). In conjunction with TM images and photographs from hand-held cameras as well as from the Large Format Camera that was flown with SIR-B, the radar images give an excellent sampling of Andean geomorphology. In particular, the radar images show new details of volcanic rocks and landforms of late Cenozoic age in the Puna, and the exhumed surfaces of tilted blocks of Precambrian crystalline basement in the Sierras Pampeanas. SIR-A data take 31 and SIR-B data take 39.6 crossed at about 19°S directly over a volcano 4600 m high in northern Chile (Figure 2). The western wall of the Andes at this latitude is a sheet of volcanic ejecta that drapes down to the west from a line of stratovolcanoes that range from 4500 to 5000 m in height. Volcanic and other sediments fill the tectonic longitudinal valley of northern Chile to a depth of i000 m or more. The coastal cordillera of uplifted basement rocks forms a tectonic dam about i km above sea level, behind which the massive volcaniclastic deposits have been ponded (Bloom, in press). To the southeast along SIR-B data take 39.6, the Ollague volcanic field on the Chile-Bolivia frontier has andesite stratovolcanoes 12 to 25 million years old that are partly buried by massive ignimbrite sheets. The ignimbrite sheets may be 3 to 5 million years old, and are in turn topped by younger andesite stratovolcanoes. A weathered and possibly wind-eroded fracture pattern in the ignimbrite sheets gives a distinct bright radar signature wherever they appear along the radar tracks (Fielding et al., 1986, esp. Figure 3). North of 27°S latitude, the eastern flank of the Andes is the Subandean fold and thrust belt, including the Santa Barbara group of deformed sedimentary rocks near Salta, Argentina. The Subandean belt is a region of major petroleum exploration along the entire eastern Andes from Colombia south to Argentina. Ford et al., (1986, p. 24-25) illustrated the geology of the Subandean belt at 5°S latitude on the Peru-Ecuador frontier, farther northwest along SIR-B data take 39.6. There is no active volcanism in the Andes between 27°S and 33°S. This is the zone of flat-slab subduction where the Pacific Nazca Plate passes under western South America with a dip of less than i0 ° (Jordan et al., 1983). Here, the Andean orogenic belt narrows abruptly to a width of no more than 200 km. SIR-A data take 29-30 crossed this section of the Andes on a northeastward course at about 30°S latitude, imaging the Cordillera Principal, the Cordillera Frontal, the Precordillera, and several of the Sierras Pampeanas - all of the major tectonic units across the flat-slab zone of the Andes.
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