Assessment of the potential of MERIS near-infrared water vapour products to correct ASAR interferometric measurements

• Published in: International journal of remote sensing Vol. 27; no. 2; pp. 349 - 365
• Main Authors: Li, Z., Muller, J.-P., Cross, P., Albert, P., Fischer, J., Bennartz, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 2006; Taylor and Francis
• Subjects: Applied geophysics; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Internal geophysics; Southern California; Xizang China; California; Far East; United States; China; China, People's Rep., Xizang; USA, California; atmosphere; microwaves; interferometry; accuracy; clouds; North America; frequency; evaluation; synthetic aperture radar; corrections; Asia; water vapor; imagery; standard deviation; statistics
• ISSN: 0143-1161; 1366-5901
• DOI: 10.1080/01431160500307342

Atmospheric water vapour is a major limitation for high precision Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) applications due to its significant impact on microwave signals. We propose a statistical criterion to test whether an independent water vapour product can reduce water vapour effects on InSAR interferograms, and assess the potential of the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) near-infrared water vapour products for correcting Advanced SAR (ASAR) data. Spatio-temporal comparisons show c. 1.1 mm agreement between MERIS and GPS/radiosonde water vapour products in terms of standard deviations. One major limitation with the use of MERIS water vapour products is the frequency of cloud free conditions. Our analysis indicates that in spite of the low global cloud free conditions (∼25%), the frequency can be much higher for certain areas such as Eastern Tibet (∼38%) and Southern California (∼48%). This suggests that MERIS water vapour products show potential for correcting ASAR interferometric measurements in certain regions.