The SAR geolocation accuracy using TerraSAR and TanDEM-X data has been demonstrated to be into centimeter level with no need of any reference frame. This paper is intended to show potential applications over maritime scenarios based on precise absolute measurements. Two specific applications are discussed and analyzed. The first one is to measure ships 2D velocity using TanDEM-X products. The s...

For the TerraSAR-X mission two new modes have been implemented and are operational since autumn 2013. One is a high azimuth resolution Staring Spotlight mode and the other is a wide ScanSAR mode with doubled ground range coverage compared to the nominal TerraSAR-X ScanSAR. This paper gives an overview about SAR performance analyses conducted during the mode design and implementation phases and ...

State-of-the-art high resolution active remote sensing imaging radar, TerraSAR-X, is having all-weather and all-time data acquisition capability. It is a promising tool for mapping snow and glaciers in mountainous region. The current study has been done using dual polarization (HH/VV) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data of TerraSAR-X (TSX), to estimate the snow physical properties (snow cover, ...

This paper describes a method for monitoring winter wheat growth using multi-temporal TerraSAR-X dual-polarimetric data. Six TerraSAR-X HH/VV images were collected in Hokkaido, and the temporal responses to the winter wheat fields were analyzed. The height, moisture content and dry matter of the crops were measured at nearly the same time as TerraSAR-X data was acquired, and the relationships b...

This paper presents a semi-automated approach to detecting coastal shoreline change with high spatialand temporal-resolution using X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. The method was applied at the Sand Motor, a “mega-scale” beach nourishment project in the Netherlands. Natural processes, like waves, wind, and tides, gradually distribute the highly concentrated sand to adjacent beaches. ...

Soil moisture was assessed with quad-polarimetric TerraSAR-X and dual-polarimetric (HH/VV) TanDEM-X data from the agricultural region of Wallerfing, Germany. The investigations included a bare soil case in April 2009 (TerraSAR-X) and a time series of 04-07/2011 (TanDEM-X) to estimate soil moisture on bare and vegetated soils including different agricultural crop types at various phenological st...

The TerraSAR-X SAR system provides high spatial resolution and geometric accuracy imagery which supports well the mapping of the 3-D structure of the city and its motions (4-D). In this work, we have evaluated potential of the very high resolution (VHR) satellite observations for monitoring and detecting ground deformation due to largescale civil infrastructure constructions. Two case studies w...

This paper addresses ship detection in TerraSAR-X single-look high-resolution spotlight data by using a global thresholding approach, which is based on statistical analysis of the test data. The corresponding thresholds were determined separately from the exponential and chi-squared distributions for TerraSAR-X single-polarisation (HH or VV) and dual-polarisation (HH and VV) data. From the resu...

The potential of TerraSAR-X data for deformation measurements benefits from high spatial and temporal resolution and even allow detecting higher deformation gradients compared to other sensors. However, decorrelation noise from vegetation and atmospheric effects are of greater importance because of the shorter wavelength. The extent of a TerraSAR-X scene is small compared to common scale atmosp...

The German national SAR-satellite system TerraSAR-X is based on a public-private-partnership agreement between the German Aerospace center DLR and EADS Astrium GmbH. It is the continuation of the scientifically and technologically successful radar missions X-SAR (1994) and SRTM (2000) and is designed for scientific and commercial applications. The TerraSAR-X features an advanced high-resolution...