Analysis of precipitation in repeated acquisitions collected by the COSMO SkyMed constellation in polarimetric mode

Effects of rain in SAR images have been noted since early missions. For SARs at X-band such as the satellites of the Italian Space Agency constellation COSMO SkyMed or the DLR TerraSAR-X, SAR returns from surface are attenuated by precipitation that gives a specific signature in SAR images that depe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium pp. 2349 - 2352
Main Authors Baldini, Luca, Roberto, Nicoletta, Gorgucci, Eugenio, Fritz, Jason, Chandrasekar, V.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.07.2011
Subjects
Attenuation
Backscatter
COSMO SkyMed
polarization
Precipitation
Radar imaging
Reflectivity
SAR
Spaceborne radar
Synthetic aperture radar
X-band
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Summary:Effects of rain in SAR images have been noted since early missions. For SARs at X-band such as the satellites of the Italian Space Agency constellation COSMO SkyMed or the DLR TerraSAR-X, SAR returns from surface are attenuated by precipitation that gives a specific signature in SAR images that depend on polarization. Attenuation, jointly with a reduced space resolution determined by the Doppler spectrum of precipitation returns, limits the capability of detecting surface features during storms. On the other hand, such precipitation signature could be used for atmospheric studies or precipitation measurements. Characteristics induced by precipitation on polarimetric COSMO SkyMed images collected have been detected and analyzed. The analysis methodology exploits also the availability of coincident measurements of precipitation from ground based radars, used to reconstruct the component of SAR return due to precipitation.
ISBN:145771003X
9781457710032
ISSN:2153-6996
2153-7003
DOI:10.1109/IGARSS.2011.6049681