ALBERT

Description: The study of ice in the upper Great Lakes, both from the operational and the scientific points of view, is receiving continued attention. Both quantitative and qualitative field work is being conducted to provide the needed background for accurate interpretation of remotely sensed data. The sensor data under discussion in this paper were obtained by a side-looking multiplexed airborne radar (SLAR). These were supplemented with ground-truth data. Radar, due to its ability to penetrate adverse weather, is an especially important instrument for monitoring ice in the upper Great Lakes. It has been previously shown that imaging radars can provide maps of ice cover in these areas. However, questions concerning both the nature of the surfaces reflecting radar energy and the interpretation of the radar imagery continually arise. Our analysis office in Whitefish Bay (Lake Superior) indicated that the combination of the ice/water interface with the ice/air interface is the major contributor to the radar backscatter as seen on the imagery. The ice has a very low dielectric constant (

Description: The study of ice in the upper Great Lakes, both from the operational and the scientific points of view, is receiving continued attention. Both quantitative and qualitative field work is being conducted to provide the needed background for accurate interpretation of remotely sensed data. The sensor data under discussion in this paper were obtained by a side-looking multiplexed airborne radar (SLAR). These were supplemented with ground-truth data.Radar, due to its ability to penetrate adverse weather, is an especially important instrument for monitoring ice in the upper Great Lakes. It has been previously shown that imaging radars can provide maps of ice cover in these areas. However, questions concerning both the nature of the surfaces reflecting radar energy and the interpretation of the radar imagery continually arise.Our analysis office in Whitefish Bay (Lake Superior) indicated that the combination of the ice/water interface with the ice/air interface is the major contributor to the radar backscatter as seen on the imagery. The ice has a very low dielectric constant (

Description: The study of ice in the upper Great Lakes, both from the operational and the scientific points of view, is receiving continued attention. Quantitative and qualitative field work is being conducted to provide the needed background for accurate interpretation of remotely sensed data. The data under discussion in this paper were obtained by a side-looking multiplexed airborne radar (SLAR) supplemented with ground-truth data.Because of its ability to penetrate adverse weather, radar is an especially important instrument for monitoring ice in the upper Great Lakes. It has previously been shown that imaging radars can provide maps of ice cover in these areas. However, questions concerning both the nature of the surfaces reflecting radar energy and the interpretation of the radar imagery continually arise.Our analysis of ice in Whitefish Bay (Lake Superior) indicates that the combination of the ice/water interlace and the ice/air interface is the major contributor to the radar backscatter as seen on the imagery. At these frequencies the ice has a very low relative dielectric permittivity (〈 3.0) and a low loss tangent. Thus, this ice is somewhat transparent to the energy used by the imaging SLAR system. The ice types studied include newly formed black ice, pancake ice, and frozen and consolidated pack and brash ice.Although ice thickness cannot be measured directly from the received signals, it is suspected that by combining the information pertaining to radar backscatter with data on the meteorological and sea-state history of the area, together with some basic ground truth, better estimates of the ice thickness may be provided. In addition, certain ice features (e.g. ridges, ice-foot formation, areas of brash ice) may be identified with reasonable confidence. There is a continued need for additional ground work to verify the validity of imaging radars for these types of interpretations.

Description: The study of ice in the upper Great Lakes, both from the operational and the scientific points of view, is receiving continued attention. Quantitative and qualitative field work is being conducted to provide the needed background for accurate interpretation of remotely sensed data. The data under discussion in this paper were obtained by a side-looking multiplexed airborne radar (SLAR) supplemented with ground-truth data. Because of its ability to penetrate adverse weather, radar is an especially important instrument for monitoring ice in the upper Great Lakes. It has previously been shown that imaging radars can provide maps of ice cover in these areas. However, questions concerning both the nature of the surfaces reflecting radar energy and the interpretation of the radar imagery continually arise. Our analysis of ice in Whitefish Bay (Lake Superior) indicates that the combination of the ice/water interlace and the ice/air interface is the major contributor to the radar backscatter as seen on the imagery. At these frequencies the ice has a very low relative dielectric permittivity (〈 3.0) and a low loss tangent. Thus, this ice is somewhat transparent to the energy used by the imaging SLAR system. The ice types studied include newly formed black ice, pancake ice, and frozen and consolidated pack and brash ice. Although ice thickness cannot be measured directly from the received signals, it is suspected that by combining the information pertaining to radar backscatter with data on the meteorological and sea-state history of the area, together with some basic ground truth, better estimates of the ice thickness may be provided. In addition, certain ice features (e.g. ridges, ice-foot formation, areas of brash ice) may be identified with reasonable confidence. There is a continued need for additional ground work to verify the validity of imaging radars for these types of interpretations.

Description: Driven oscillations of electron plasma with sheath described by driven normal mode model

Description: Absolute calibration of synthetic aperture radar data is desirable for space and time continuity in earth resource investigations. For this purpose, a calibration signal is used to compare data from a calibration flight, during which precision reflectors are imaged, to data from subsequent SAR flights. The calibration signal duplicates the SAR response from a point source. This signal is amplified and converted by the radar system and processed in precisely the same way as data.

Description: The feasibility of a synthetic aperture radar for search and rescue applications was demonstrated with aircraft experiments. One experiment was conducted using the ERIM four-channel radar and several test sites in the Michigan area. In this test simple corner-reflector targets were successfully imaged. Results from this investigation were positive and indicate that the concept can be used to investigate new approaches focused on the development of a global search and rescue system. An orbital experiment to demonstrate the application of synthetic aperture radar to search and rescue is proposed using the space shuttle.