nisar: the nasa-isro sar mission preparing markets for ... · globe from space. satellite sensors...

ã2017CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology.Governmentsponsorshipacknowledged.

NISAR:TheNASA-ISROSARMission

CropAreaMonitoringTofeedagrowingpopulationofmorethan8billion,foodproductionandsupplyoccuronaglobalbasis.Inordertobetter guide policy and decision making, national andinternationalorganizationsworktotransparentlymonitor

trends and conditions of agriculture in a timely basis.Becauseofthevariablenatureofplantingandharvestingpractices,effortssuchasthisaremanpowerintensiveandtimeconsumingtasks.

PreparingMarketsforBountifulHarvests

NISARwillprovidemapsofdevelopingcropareaonaglobalbasiseverytwoweeks.Observationswillbeuninterruptedbyweatherandprovideup-to-dateinformationonthelarge-scaletrendsthataffectinternationalfoodsecurity.

Modern Remote Sensing Technology and Farming

Inrecentyears,withtheriseofsilicon,moderntechnologyhaspermeatedalllevelsofsociety.ThroughGPS,automationandspacetechnology,thedisciplineofagriculturalproductionhasbeennoexception,andindeedhashistoricallyalwaysbeenanearlyadopterofnewtechnology.Foodsecurityandtheaccomplishmentsofagribusinessarefoundedonthecontinuityofaglobalfoodsupplythatfluctuateswithchangingnationalpolicies,regionalclimatevariabilityandmarketforcesthatgovernwhatindividualfarmersandcorporatefarmingentitiesplantandharvesteveryyear.Inchallengingenvironmentssuchasthis,informationleadstoefficiency,stabilityandsuccess.

TheNISARMission–Reliable,ConsistentObservations

The NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, a collaborationbetweentheNationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration(NASA)andtheIndianSpaceResearchOrganization(ISRO),willprovideall-weather,day/nightimagingofnearly the entire landand icemassesof the Earth repeated4-6times permonth. NISAR’s orbiting radars will image at resolutions of 5-10meterstoidentifyandtracksubtlemovementoftheEarth’slandanditsseaice,andevenprovideinformationaboutwhatishappeningbelowthesurface.NISARwillalsoprovideinformationoncropareaandforestbiomassovertimeandwithenoughdetailtorevealchangesonfieldscales.Productsareexpectedtobeavailable1-2daysafterobservation,andwithinhours in response todisasters,providingactionable,timelydataformanyapplications.

Photos(clockwise):Flickr,CCBY-NC2.0:KimberlyReinhart,Jason&KrisCarter,fishhawk,EricBaker

ã2017CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology.Governmentsponsorshipacknowledged.

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Among the organizations that track the trends inagricultural production on a global basis is the UnitedNations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).AccordingtoFAO’s2015statistics,overelevenpercentoftheEarth’s landsurface (1.5billionhectares) isusedforfarming.Withanincreasingpopulation,aftertakingintoaccount expected improvements in land use efficiency,the amount of land dedicated to food production isexpectedtogrow7%by2030tokeepupwithdemand.This increase is equivalent to an additional 90 millionhectares, roughly the size of Texas and Oklahomacombined.With theworld’spopulation criticallydependenton thetimelyproductionoffoodandfreshwaterresources,theneedisgreaternowthaneverbeforefortheapplicationof technology to assure that populationneeds aremet.Amongthetechnicaltoolsthatareusedtoaddresstheseissuesarethesatellitesthatprovidesynopticviewsoftheglobefromspace.Satellitesensorsareroutinelyusedtoguidedecision-makersand commercial interests alike in

schedulingfutureplantingsandmonitoringtheeffectsofpolicychangesandadynamicglobalmarketplace.The upcoming NISAR mission will provide dependableobservationsthroughoutthegrowingseason.Theuseofactively generatedmicrowave signals (L- and S-band, orequivalently,24cmand10cmwavelength)onboardthesatellite,means that theobservationswillbeable tobereliablyplanned,collectedanddistributedattimescalesthatarecommensuratewiththesatellite’s12-dayrepeatcycle of the full set of orbits, which images eachagriculturalsiteatleastonceevery6days.RadarimagesfromsatellitessuchasNISARareknownfortheirabilitytopenetrate through clouds and their day/night imagingcapability,whichisamajorlimitationofopticalsensorsforagricultureapplications.Radarimagerywillprovidenear-weekly observations of almost all land areas thatcomplement the optical data and provide independentinformationthatissensitivetothechangingstructureandmoisture conditions of the crops being imaged. Inaddition, NISAR’s data products will be available openaccess.

NationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration Formoreinformation,visithttp://nisar.jpl.nasa.gov/applications

JetPropulsionLaboratory/CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology/Pasadena,California/www.jpl.nasa.gov

ObservationsoftheEarth’slandsurfacesfromspaceusingradarallowsreliableandrepeatedmeasurementstobemadethroughoutthegrowingseason.Thestructuresofdifferentcropandlandcovertypesprovidearichvarietyofresponsestotheradarilluminationintermsofvaryingpolarizationandfrequencysignatures.Becauseoftherapid,time-varyingnatureofcroprotation,growth,andharvest,frequentlyrepeatedradarobservationscanbeusedtodetermineboththetypeofcropanditsstageofgrowth.Informationlikethisisusedtopredictthehealthoftheregion’scropsandtheplannedagriculturaloutput.ShownatrightaredatacollectedbySIR-C,aNASAmissionlaunchedonboardthespaceshuttlein1994.DatafromareassuchastheDnieperRiverregionofUkrainewerecollectedatstudysitesdistributedthroughouttheglobeandhavebeenusedbyNISARmissionplannersandotherspaceagenciesworldwidetounderstandhowradardatacanbeusedtoimproveourknowledgeoftheworldaroundus.Moderndaysyntheticapertureradars(SAR),suchastheCanadianSpaceAgency’sRadarsatandtheEuropeanCommission’sSentinelsatelliteseries,havebenefitedfromtheSIR-Cmissionandarebeingactivelyusedtoday.

Two-frequencyradarimageoftheDnieperRivergrowingregioncollectedin1994byNASA’sShuttleImagingRadarprogram.Inthisfalsecolorimage,developingwheatfieldsshowupasbrightmagentaandforestsasthebrightwhitepatchesthatfollowtheriver’sborder

Radar Imaging of Crops