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Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR)

Source: http://spacespin.org, access on 28th, Apr. 2010

Source: http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp, access on 28th, Apr. 2010 (modified)


Source: http://www.alos-restec.jp, access on 28th, Apr. 2010

The PALSAR is an active microwave sensor aboard the Advance Land Observing Satellite (ALOS). The sensor operates at L-band with HH and VV polarisation (HV and VH polarisations are optional). The sensor is beam steerable in elevation and the ScanSAR mode allows obtaining a wider swath than conventional SARs. ALOS was launched in 2004 into a sun-synchronous orbit at the altitude of 700km, providing a spatial resolution of 20m for the fine resolution mode (swath width of 70km) and 100m for the ScanSAR mode (swath width of 360km). The repeat cycle is 46 days and the local time at descending node is about 10:30am. PALSAR data can be downloaded from ERSDAC.


Mission PALSAR
Sensor Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR)
Spacecraft Advance Land Observing Satellite (ALOS)
Launch date 24th, Jan. 2006
Design life 3 - 5 years
Orbit Sun-Synchronous Sub-Recurrent, at an angle of 98.16°, at altitude of 691.65km (at equator).
Spacecraft operations control centre JAXA and JAROS
Center frequency (GHz) 1.27 (L-band)
Mode Fine ScanSAR Polarimetric (Experimental mode)
Band width (MHz) 28 14 14, 28 14
Polarisation HH or VV HH+HV or VV+VH HH or VV HH+HV+VV+VH
Incidence angle (°) 8 - 60 8 - 60 18 - 43 8 - 30
Swath (km) 40 - 70 40 - 70 250 - 350 20 - 65
Spatial resolution (m) 7 - 44 14 - 88 100 (multi-look) 24 - 89
Bit length 5 bits 5 bits 5 bits 3 or 5 bits
Radiometric accuracy scene: 1dB or orbit: 1.5dB
Temporal resolution Repeat Cycle: 46 days, Sub Cycle: 2 days

PALSAR full beam mode product overpass time

PALSAR coverage for the Murrumbidgee Catchment during the first AACES campaign have been determined from a Fortran program based on NORAD data for 6th, Nov. 2009, and are summarized in the table below. Date and time are in UTC. Aircraft flights were assumed to be conducted at 7:45 for descending overpass and 20:35 for ascending overpass.

  : Transect flight within 6 hours   : Patch flight within 6 hours
: Fully covered : Partially covered

UTC Date Start UTC Time Duration (s) Flight Patch
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2010/1/18 23:51:03 145  
2010/1/19 13:29:56 160  
2010/1/20 23:34:16 122            
2010/1/21 13:12:53 140        
2010/1/22 0:14:23 135 P01      
2010/1/22 13:53:43 112              
2010/1/23 23:57:17 144  
2010/1/24 13:36:17 156  
2010/1/25 23:40:17 140        
2010/1/26 13:19:01 151  
2010/1/27 0:20:45 111              
2010/1/27 14:00:22 45                    
2010/1/27 23:24:20 30 P03                  
2010/1/28 13:02:28 91                  
2010/1/29 0:03:29 145  
2010/1/29 13:42:37 147    
2010/1/30 23:46:25 144  
2010/1/31 13:25:14 158  
2010/2/1 0:27:21 52                    
2010/2/1 23:29:52 100 T01              
2010/2/2 13:08:21 126            
2010/2/3 0:09:42 142      
2010/2/3 13:48:58 129          
2010/2/4 23:52:36 145  
2010/2/5 13:31:32 160  
2010/2/6 23:35:44 130 P05        
2010/2/7 13:14:23 145      
2010/2/8 0:15:58 129          
2010/2/8 13:55:21 98                
2010/2/9 23:58:49 144 P07
2010/2/10 13:37:51 153  
2010/2/11 23:41:46 142 P06    
2010/2/12 13:20:32 153  
2010/2/13 0:22:20 100                
2010/2/13 23:25:33 62                    
2010/2/14 13:03:51 105                
2010/2/15 0:04:59 145 P08
2010/2/15 13:44:10 142      
2010/2/16 23:47:53 146  
2010/2/17 13:26:44 160  
2010/2/18 23:31:13 111              
2010/2/19 13:09:46 133          
2010/2/20 0:11:10 140 T02    
2010/2/20 13:50:28 123            
2010/2/21 23:54:04 145  
Created: January 2010
Last Modified: August 2010
Maintainer: YE Nan, Ye.Nan@monash.edu