ESA - Eduspace EN - Global Change

Coastal change

Danube Delta change detection Oil spills

Deforestation

Bardia National Park Congo River Basin Kameng-Sonitpur Elephant Reserve Kilimanjaro Rondonia Shillong and Guwahati

Ice

Antarctica 2003 Climate change and glaciers Glacier analysis using radar imagery Glacial retreat in the Alps Glacier Ice Flow Monitoring of glaciers in the Himalayas Remote sensing of ice and snow

Urbanisation

Cairo City of Kathmandu Córdoba Himalayas Kathmandu Valley Lagos

Vegetation

Annapurna Conservation Area Lost in the Andes Ngorongoro Conservation Area Niger Inland Delta Vegetation in South America

Conclusions

The exercises show that the microwave backscatter of ice and snow can vary a lot over time and across one image. The backscatter intensity gives information about the current snow and ice conditions, such as their wetness and roughness.

Radar remote sensing can therefore be used to study snow and ice conditions. However, these conditions may change quickly, depending on the meteorological situation of the area (e.g. temperature, rain, snow). It is difficult to map glaciers from one radar image only. However, a combination of images taken at different times and from the same orbit-track (multitemporal composites) help locate glacier boundaries.

Satellite sensors used in this case study

Sensor	Type	Spatial resolution (size of one image pixel)
ALOS PALSAR	SAR sensor, wavelength 23.6 cm	7 – 100 m (depending on acquisition mode)
ASTER	Multispectral optical cameras; visible, near infrared, shortwave infrared, thermal infrared, stereo	15, 30, and 90 m
Envisat ASAR	SAR sensor, wavelength 5.6 cm	20 m and coarser (depending on acquisition mode)
Landsat TM and ETM+	Multispectral optical cameras; visible, near infrared, shortwave infrared, thermal infrared	15, 30, and 60 m
MODIS	Multispectral optical camera; visible, near infrared, shortwave infrared, thermal infrared	250, 500, 1000 m

Send this page to a friend

Glacier analysis using radar imagery

Introduction

Background

Radar Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

Exercises

Worksheet introduction Exercise 1: Multitemporal radar and multispectral optical data Exercise 2: The influence of weather conditions on radar imagery

Eduspace - Software

LEOWorks 4 (MacOS)LEOWorks 4 (Windows)LEOWorks 4 (Linux)

Eduspace - Download

Images_Glaciers.zip GoogleEarth file