The main objective of this project is to develop and test methodology using ENVISAT ASAR data for agricultural applications, with an emphasis on land use, land cover classification and rice mapping. An optimal pre-processing chain for ASAR data is first constructed to provide input data to the classification steps. Experiments at the Zhangzhou test site, Fujian province, southern China, indicat...

The objective of this paper is to improve as well as to assess the performance of mapping forest by ENVISAT ASAR data and update forest map from ERS SAR images. The preliminary results of there test sites show it is very potential to use HH/HV ASAR AP data for forest map update. Tuqiang site have been undergoing dramatic changes during the last several decades due to the regeneration after fore...

Atmospheric phenomena often leave fingerprints on the sea surface, which are detectable by synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Here we present some representative examples of SAR images acquired by the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) onboard the Envisat satellite over the South China Sea (SCS) which show radar signatures of atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) and of coastal wind fields. On SA...

Within the framework of the Flood DRAGON project, an assessment of ASAR Global Monitoring (GMM) data has been carried out over the Poyang Lake, Jiangxi province, P.R. China. This study consists of one of the first assessment of low resolution ASAR data, ENVISAT low rate mode, for land applications. Sixteen ASAR GMM images, which give a good overview of an on going situation over very large area...

The potential of FORMOSAT-2 and ENVISAT/ASAR for the monitoring of irrigated wheat crops over Tensift/Marrakech semi-arid plain in Morocco is investigated. The green leaf area index (GLAI) was obtained from time series of vegetation index acquired by the FORMOSAT-2 instrument with a 25% accuracy. This information was then incorporated into a canopy functioning model to provide spatial estimates...

Wildfires significantly affect the boreal ecosystem of Siberia. However, records on burnt areas and fire impact are still not satisfactory in Russia. The dense smoke from active burning and the persistent cloud covers impeded the application of optical sensors to the detection of burnt area in Siberia forest during the summer fire season. The high resolution SAR data are of limited use for burn...

A study was undertaken to assess Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) ScanSAR data for quantifying forest growing stock volume (GSV) across three boreal regions with varying forest types, composition, and structure (Sweden, Central Siberia, and Québec). Estimates of GSV were obtained using hyper-temporal observations of the radar backscatter acquired by Envisat ASAR with the BIOMASA...

To support the operational use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) earth observation systems, the European Space Agency (ESA) is developing Sentinel-1 radar satellites operating in C-band. Much like its SAR predecessors (Earth Resource Satellite, ENVISAT, and RADARSAT), the Sentinel-1 will operate at a medium spatial resolution (ranging from 5 to 40 m), but with a greatly improved revisit period,...

The ENVISAT ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar) AP (Alternating Polarisation) mode provides a new opportunity for spaceborne monitoring of vessel traffic and fishing activities. A series of data has been collected and analysed over Canadian and Norwegian waters, as well as other locations of opportunity. Three vessels were imaged during a Canadian trial and an oil production vessel in the ...