NSCAT views land and ice

The NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) is a spaceborne scatterometer which flew aboard the National Space Development Agency of Japan´s ADvanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS). Although the three year mission was cut short due to failure of the spacecraft solar array, NSCAT returned over 9 months of observations of the Earth. NSCAT was originally designed to measure winds over the ocean; however, it also made radar backscatter measurements over land and ice regions. An overview of NSCAT land and ice observations is presented. Using the Scatterometer Image Reconstruction with Filtering (SIRF) algorithm, dual polarization global images of the incidence angle normalized radar backscatter (denoted `A´) and the incidence angle dependence of the radar backscatter (denoted `B´) are generated. When applied to NSCAT data, images with an effective resolution of better than 8 km can be produced using SIRF. Several applications for use of NSCAT A and B image data in land and ice studies are described, including the use of NSCAT data for ice extent mapping and for long-term vegetation change studies by comparison to 1978 Seasat data