Trip Report
Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena CA
by Kevin Dalsted - SDSU
Agenda (October 4, 2000)
9:30 - 10:00 JPL SAR Overview -- Y. Kim
10:00 - 10:30 S. Dak. St. Univ. Research-- K. Dalsted
10:30 - 12:00 SAR Applications --M. Moghaddam and P. Siqueira,
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch
1:00 - 2:00 S. Dak. St. Univ. Research, continued –SDSU
2:00 - 2:30 Subsidence study using SAR interferometry -- P. Rosen
2:30 - 3:30 L & X band mission overview -- J. Hilland
3:30 - 5:00 Future Collaboration – All
After initial introductions and background, Dr. Kim gave his presentation on the JPL SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) activities. He touched on various research activities and SAR missions, included the recently completed Shuttle Radar Topographic Mapping mission, QuikSCAT (poor resolution with twice daily coverage), and the AirSAR system. We discussed how 1 m SAR data could be used to map wind damage to crops as well as soil moisture and biomass estimations from SAR. Several experimental systems were briefly discussed.
K. Dalsted presented an overview of the NASA EPSCoR project and proposal number 2, "Investigation of Water and Nutrient Budgets in S.D.’s Upper Missouri River Watershed Using Remote Sensing, Numeric Models, and Field Measurements." Drs. Kim, Moghaddam and Siqueira were interested in this project and how Radar data might fit into the proposed work. Dalsted also informed the JPL participants that he had requested AirSAR data for the next growing season in S.D.
Dr. Moghaddam spoke on several applications of SAR data. She has used interferometry to infer vegetation height and Radar to estimate biomass and soil moisture. Her emphasis included data fusion, i.e., multiple data sources (e.g., TM with SAR) to achieve an end. She is also interested in GIS and its role in data handling and analysis.
Dr. Siqueira spoke about his work including an unfunded precision agriculture and SAR proposal of two years ago ("Quantitative Estimation of Intra-Crop Biophysical Parameters using Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing"). He also described an aircraft based instrument that is just getting started with data collection: GeoSAR with multifrequency Radar. The cost runs about $6-12 K/hour. Soil moisture, tree height and frozen soil estimations were among the priority research areas for this system.
Drs. Shin, Schaefer, and Burckhard and M. O’Neill discussed some of their research and application interests. These interests ranged from computer-based decision support systems to environmental and landslide applications to educational and outreach areas.
Dr. Paul Rosen spoke about deformation, earthquakes and land subsidence. EarthScope was mentioned as an unfunded initiative involving NASA and NSF, among others, which would focus on geophysical measurements via SAR. A variety of discussions took place on earthquakes and multidate SAR observations.
Dr. Jeff Hilland discussed the proposed new U.S. SAR satellite with multifrequency and multiresolution sensors. This new satellite proposal is on the brink of failure due to lack of funding. Congressional budget hearings may be addressing this system in the very near future. If this satellite doesn’t receive start-up funding, JPL will likely move to a new satellite concept with less capability. Dr. Hilland indicated to Dr. Shin, outside of the conference, that he would be able to provide some JPL-developed shareware for Radar data processing.
Our closing discussion centered on how we could work together. Dr. Kim indicated that, while they are interested in the proposed NASA EPSCoR project, they don’t have any funding to cover staff time and expenses for this project. We then took the angle of graduate assistantships and Dr. Kim indicated that they could host one or two graduate students through a S.D. funded activity. This would provide training for the students so that they could contribute to the overall project, particularly as it referred to Radar analyses. Dr. Kim indicated that they might be interested in placing a Radar unit on the proposed tower unit. Dr. Kim will write a letter of cooperation with our efforts upon receiving and reviewing a draft of EPSCoR project #2 proposal.
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