COSMO-skymed, TerraSAR-X, and RADARSAT-2 geolocation accuracy after compensation for earth-system effects

Author

Schubert, Adrian ; Small, David ; Jehle, Michael ; Meier, Erich

Author_Institution

Dept. of Geogr., Univ. of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

fYear

2012

fDate

22-27 July 2012

Firstpage

3301

Lastpage

3304

Abstract

A Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensor with high geolocation accuracy greatly simplifies the task of combining multiple data takes within a common geodetic reference system or Geographic Information System (GIS), and is a critical enabler for many applications such as near-real-time disaster mapping. In this study, the geolocation accuracy was estimated using the same methodology for products from three SAR sensors: TerraSAR-X (two identical satellites), COSMO-SkyMed (four identical satellites) and RADARSAT-2. Known errors caused by atmospheric refraction, plate tectonics and the solid-Earth tide were modeled and compensated during the analysis. Of the products analyzed, TerraSAR-X provided the highest absolute and relative geolocation accuracy.

Keywords

geographic information systems; remote sensing by radar; synthetic aperture radar; tectonics; tides; COSMO-SKYMED geolocation accuracy; COSMO-SkyMed sensor; Earth-system effects; RADARSAT-2 geolocation accuracy; RADARSAT-2 sensor; SAR sensor; TERRASAR-X geolocation accuracy; TerraSAR-X sensor; atmospheric refraction; geodetic reference system; geographic information system; near-real-time disaster mapping; plate tectonics; solid-Earth tide; synthetic aperture radar; Accuracy; Atmospheric measurements; Atmospheric modeling; Geology; Global Positioning System; Satellites; Timing; COSMO-SkyMed; Geolocation; RADARSAT-2; SAR; TerraSAR-X;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2012 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Munich

ISSN

2153-6996

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1160-1

Electronic_ISBN

2153-6996

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2012.6350598

Filename

6350598