NASA ARSET: Basics of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Video 1/4

A limitation of optical satellite remote sensing is that it depends on cloudless, well-illuminated areas to produce quality data. This is especially problematic for collecting data during nighttime, around storms, and in densely-forested areas. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a solution to many of these obstacles. SAR can observe the Earth's surface day and night, through most weather conditions, and the signal can penetrate the vegetation canopy. There are a number of existing SAR datasets from current and past airborne and satellite missions, as well as exciting upcoming missions. This online webinar will focus on building the skills needed to acquire and understand SAR data, including polarimetric and interferometric SAR (PolSAR and InSAR), as well as potential applications.

Learning Objectives: By the end of the training, attendees will be able to interpret the information in SAR images, recognize distortions that need to be corrected in SAR images, describe the basics of PolSAR and the information provided by different polarizations, and describe the basics of InSAR and the information in an interferogram.

You can access all training materials (presentations and homework assignments) from this webinar series on the training webpage: https://arset.gsfc.nasa.gov/disasters/webinars/intro-SAR

Course Format: Four, one-hour sessions

Audience: Remote sensing users from local, regional, state, federal, and international organizations interested in using SAR for terrestrial applications such as inundation mapping, fire scar detection, land cover land use change studies, or surface deformation