SARTREK Newsletter: June 2005

In This Issue:

1. SOAR Letter of Intent Review is Complete!
2. RADARSAT-2 Workshops
3. Applications Potential of RADARSAT-2: Supplement 1
4. Marine Surveillance Update

Science and Operational Applications Research (SOAR) Letter of Intent Review is Complete!

We are very pleased with the response received to our request for proposals for the SOAR program. Nearly 300 Letters of Intent were submitted from interested parties around the world. These proposals cover a wide range of research areas (see pie chart below) with half interested in the use of quadrature polarimetry ("quad-pol") data - one of the new capabilities available from RADARSAT-2.

In mid-April, SOAR participants received a response regarding their Letter of Intent. Additional information regarding full proposal submission will be provided in the next few weeks. Final proposal entries are to be submitted online - enabling applicants to add to their original Letter of Intent or to further expand selected ideas.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email the SOAR Coordination office at SOAR@space.gc.ca.

We are excited by the breadth and diversity of research being proposed through the SOAR program. These studies will provide SAR users with new or expanded insight into the capabilities of RADARSAT-2.

RADARSAT-2 Workshops

Success in Brazil!

A RADARSAT-2 workshop was held during the Brazilian Remote Sensing Symposium in Goiania this past April. The highly successful event was hosted by Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) and attracted ~100 participants.

The workshop outlined preparations being made in Brazil for the use of RADARSAT-2 data. Brazilians who had submitted Letters of Intent to the SOAR program were invited to present a summary of their proposals. The range of applications presented was considerable and included oil spill mapping, landcover mapping, forest structure assessment, landslide monitoring and terrain interpretation. The amount of knowledge and preparation for the RADARSAT-2 era was impressive!

Joao Vassallo(centre)-Threetek, Carlos Beisl(left)/Fernando Pellon(right)-Petrobras, SOAR participants

Upcoming RADARSAT-2 Workshops:

• A RADARSAT-2 workshop will be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia on June 19, 2005. Focusing on polarimetry and its applications, this workshop is in conjunction with the 31st International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment. The theme of the Symposium is "Global Monitoring for Sustainability and Security".
  »  More information on program #1




• A 2-day SAR polarimetry workshop will be held at the Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS) in Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia, Canada on June 12 - 13, 2005. This workshop is held in conjunction with the 26th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing. www.casi.ca.
  »  More information on program and registration #2

Applications Potential of RADARSAT-2: Supplement 1

We are pleased to announce that the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing of Natural Resources Canada, under funding through the Canadian Space Agency, has released an update to the April 2001 report 'Applications Potential of RADARSAT-2 - A Preview'. This update 'Application Potential of RADARSAT-2: Supplement 1' describes new results obtained since the earlier publication with respect to the extraction of information from RADARSAT-2 type data for applications in the fields of agriculture, cartography, disaster management, geology, coastal zones and oceans, and sea ice.

  Download copy of report-size 6.5 M

Many of the results complement the findings of the first report and endorse the previous assessments of the application potential of RADARSAT-2. The potential of multi-polarization and polarimetric C-band SAR images for specific applications are endorsed in this update through quantitative analysis. In addition, data fusion techniques and results are presented.

Marine Surveillance Update

The commercialization of satellite data to support marine surveillance has had significant success during the RADARSAT-1 era. Ice monitoring services such as the Canadian Ice Centre and Danish Meteorological Services, among others, continue to be the largest users of RADARSAT-1 data. Ship detection services in co-ordination with Vessel Management System (VMS) technology are starting to make commercial headway. This initial success is paving the way for future commercialization efforts.

The use of RADARSAT-2 is expected to enhance marine surveillance capabilities. Specific areas in which RADARSAT-2 dual polarized and polarimetric data can provide additional information to support marine surveillance are outlined in the following articles:

• Identification of ships, Liu et al., 2005
• Distinction between ships and icebergs , Staples et al., 2005