Description
Summary:The long-term goal of this project is the establishment of receiving, processing, and interpretation capabilities for spaceborne along-track interferometric synthetic aperture radar (along-track InSAR or ATI) data at the University of Miami's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) for high-resolution surface current field mapping with special emphasis on applications in estuarine environments and rivers. Within the project period of 24 months (now extended by another year, ending on December 31, 2011), we intended to acquire a series of ATI images of selected test sites; implement ATI raw data processing capabilities at CSTARS; develop a robust current retrieval algorithm for rivers that corrects the ATI-derived Doppler velocities for contributions of wave motions; compare the results with available reference data; evaluate the data quality in view of known user requirements; and evaluate the potential of dedicated ATI satellite missions with optimized instrument, platform, and orbit parameters for nearshore, estuarine, and river observations. The main satellite to be used was TerraSAR-X, but we were optimistic to obtain additional ATI data from other satellites, such as TanDEM-X, RADARSAT-2, and the COSMO-SkyMed satellite constellation.