A First Study on the use of TerraSAR-X for Meteorological Purposes

In this paper we present the predicted performance of the TerraSAR-X for meteorological purposes. Principally, the study focuses on the possibility of measuring rain over ocean and forest. Regarding the acquisition geometry, we investigate the rain volume and voxel resolution, the signal-to-noise ratio and the signal-to-clutter ratio. The clutter interference has been evaluated for intra- and inter-pulse ground returns. Measurement of rain for nadir-looking geometry looks promising over forest and ocean under almost all conditions. However, for side-looking geometry, rain detection could be only possible at very high rain rates.