Authors / CoAuthors
Unknown
Abstract
The RADARSAT satellite was developed by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and was launched on 4 November 1995. It has a C-band, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensor on board. The SAR is an active microwave sensor capable of imaging earth resource targets regardless of time of day, cloud, haze or smoke cover of an area. The instrument is classified "active" as it emits the energy necessary to image the earth's surface. In contrast, "passive" or "optical" sensors rely on the sun's reflected energy to image the earth. This sensor can operate in a variety of imaging modes to suit a range of applications. Depending on the beam mode, the SAR ground swath widith varies between 50 and 500 kilometres, and the pixel resolution varies between 10 and 100 metres. The sensor has HH polarisation. ACRES Radarsat archive consists of extensive coverage from August 1997 to late 1999. ACRES currently do not have an agreement with RSI but can acquire data if downlink is granted by RSI.
Product Type
dataset
eCat Id
47926
Contact for the resource
Custodian
Owner
Point of contact
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Keywords
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- Satellite ImageryRADARSAT
- ( Theme )
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- satellite imagery
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_Internal
Publication Date
2003-06-17T00:00:00
Creation Date
Security Constraints
Legal Constraints
Status
Purpose
Maintenance Information
continual
Topic Category
imageryBaseMapsEarthCover
Series Information
Lineage
The RADARSAT data set is acquired by earth orbiting remote sensing satellites. These satellites carry two types of sensor systems known as "active" and "passive". The RADARSAT instrument is classified as "active" as it emits the energy necessary to image the earth's surface. The digital data acquired by the satellites are transmitted to ground stations and can be used to reconstitute an image of the Earth's surface not too dissimilar to an aerial photograph. Data are received through the ACRES antenna at the Data Acquisition Facility at Alice Springs enabling coverage of the Australian landmass. The recorded data are air-freighted daily to the Data Processing Facility in Canberra where it is catalogued and archived. Data are provided as hard copy photographic data products, or as digital data products which can be viewed and manipulated on a variety of software systems. However, the data transmitted to Earth from an Earth observation satellite are in a form unsuitable for use by customers so ACRES processes this raw data in varying degrees to produce products suitable for use by clients. ACRES only processes the data after a client has placed an order for a specific product. This is due to the large quantities of data received from a satellite and the large range of product options available.
Parent Information
Extents
[-90.0, -9.0, 45.0, 168.0]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Source Information
Source data not available.