BOREAS RSS-16 LEVEL-3B DC-8 AIRSAR CM IMAGES

The BOREAS RSS-16 team used satellite and aircraft SAR data in conjunction with various ground measurements to determine the moisture regime of the boreal forest. RSS-16 assisted with the acquisition and ordering of NASA JPL AIRSAR data collected from the NASA DC-8 aircraft. The NASA JPL AIRSAR is a side-looking imaging radar system that utilizes the SAR principle to obtain high-resolution images that represent the radar backscatter of the imaged surface at different frequencies and polarizations. The information contained in each pixel of the AIRSAR data represents the radar backscatter for all possible combinations of horizontal and vertical transmit and receive polarizations (i.e., HH, HV, VH, and VV). Geographically, the data cover portions of the BOREAS SSA and NSA. Temporally, the data were acquired from 12-Aug-1993 to 31-Jul-1995. The level-3b AIRSAR CM data are in compressed Stokes matrix format, which has 10 bytes per pixel. From this data format, it is possible to synthesize a number of different radar backscatter measurements. The data are stored in binary image format files. Companion files include (1) an image inventory listing to inform users of the images that are available and (2) example thumbnail images that may be viewed and the image data files downloaded using a convenient viewer utility.BOREAS RSS-16研究团队结合卫星与机载合成孔径雷达（Synthetic Aperture Radar, SAR）数据及多类地面实测数据，探明了北方针叶林的水分状况。RSS-16协助获取并订购了由美国国家航空航天局（NASA）DC-8航空器采集的NASA喷气推进实验室（JPL）机载合成孔径雷达（AIRSAR）数据。 NASA JPL AIRSAR是一种侧视成像雷达系统，依托合成孔径雷达原理获取高分辨率图像，这些图像可表征不同频率与极化方式下成像表面的雷达后向散射特性。AIRSAR数据的每个像素所包含的信息，对应水平与垂直发射、接收极化的所有可能组合（即HH、HV、VH及VV极化）下的雷达后向散射信号。 地理覆盖范围上，该数据集涵盖BOREAS南部研究区（SSA）与北部研究区（NSA）的部分区域；时间跨度为1993年8月12日至1995年7月31日。 其中3b级AIRSAR CM数据采用压缩斯托克斯矩阵格式存储，每个像素占用10字节。通过该数据格式，可合成多种不同的雷达后向散射测量结果。该数据以二进制图像格式文件存储。 配套文件包含两项：(1) 图像清单文件，用于告知用户可获取的图像资源；(2) 示例缩略图文件，用户可通过便捷的图像查看工具查看该缩略图并下载对应的图像数据文件。