PACRIM, deployment of AIRSAR in the Australian-ASEAN region

A unique opportunity was afforded in November 1993 to acquire state-of-the-art radar data over Australian test sites. CSIRO-COSSA and the University of New South Wales Centre for Remote Sensing and GIS collaborated with NASA´s Mission to Planet Earth Airborne Sciences Program, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to bring AIRSAR, the world´s most advanced synthetic aperture radar system to Australia. AIRSAR operates in a full polarimetric mode at L-band (24.5 cm), C-band (5.6 cm) and P-band (68 cm). In addition to this three-frequency polarimetric capability called POLSAR, the incorporation of extra C- and L-band antennas permits interferometric data known as TOPSAR to be acquired. During November 1993 this system acquired data over 55 sites on the Australian continent for 35 principal investigators including both US and Australian scientists and collaborators. This data has been processed and analysed and the research and science findings presented in Proceedings of the International Workshop on Radar Image Processing and Applications, Sydney, 6-8 November 1995. AIRSAR Australia 1993 has made a significant contribution, both in terms of advanced polarimetric and interferometric radar data not previously available and in fostering a research community interested in using the unique characteristics of radar to analyse a range of environmental surfaces and conditions. The program has also resulted in a significant increase in technology transfer in bringing together an Australian community not previously experienced in using polarimetric radar and in providing a knowledge base from which radar can be integrated into research aimed at determining geophysical parameters of surface materials