Abstract
This paper presents the first comprehensive review on the scientific utilization of earth observation data provided by the German TerraSAR-X mission. It considers the different application fields and technical capabilities to identify the key applications and the preferred technical capabilities of this high-resolution SAR satellite system from a scientific point of view. The TerraSAR-X mission is conducted in a close cooperation with industry. Over the past decade, scientists have gained access to data through a proposal submission and evaluation process. For this review, we have considered 1636 data utilization proposals and analyzed 2850 publications. In general, TerraSAR-X data is used in a wide range of geoscientific research areas comprising anthroposphere, biosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere. Methodological and technical research is a cross-cutting issue that supports all geoscientific fields. Most of the proposals address research questions concerning the geosphere, whereas the majority of the publications focused on research regarding “methods and techniques”. All geoscientific fields involve systematic observations for the establishment of time series in support of monitoring activities. High-resolution SAR data are mainly used for the determination and investigation of surface movements, where SAR interferometry in its different variants is the predominant technology. However, feature tracking techniques also benefit from the high spatial resolution. Researchers make use of polarimetric SAR capabilities, although they are not a key feature of the TerraSAR-X system. The StripMap mode with three meter spatial resolution is the preferred SAR imaging mode, accounting for 60 percent of all scientific data acquisitions. The Spotlight modes with the highest spatial resolution of less than one meter are requested by only approximately 30 percent of the newly acquired TerraSAR-X data.
Highlights
On 15 June 2007, Germany’s first operational radar satellite TerraSAR-X was launched into space
Analysis of the scientific literature suggests that the dominant use of high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data is the derivation of surface movements. 1044 publications address this topic, 834 (29 percent of all TerraSAR-X related publications) of them deal with deformation and displacement of the solid land surface including glacier flow and 210 with movements of the ocean surface like currents, wave and wind fields. 720 articles (25 percent) used SAR interferometry including its different processing variants like PSInSAR or SAR-tomography
The main aim of this paper was the identification of key applications and technical modes and settings for a high-resolution X-band system like TerraSAR-X
Summary
On 15 June 2007, Germany’s first operational radar satellite TerraSAR-X was launched into space. The TerraSAR-X mission is organized in a public–private partnership (PPP) between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) Astrium GmbH (since 2014 Airbus Defence and Space (DS)) [1]. Representing the German government, DLR solely owns and operates the satellite and coordinates the scientific utilization of the TerraSAR-X data and products. The TerraSAR-X mission pursues two main goals. The first is the provision of high-quality, multimode X-band SAR-data for scientific research and applications. This paper reviews the TerraSAR-X mission solely from the perspective of scientific data utilization. It considers technical and operational issues and provides a resume of the mission’s utilization and a background for future EO mission designs
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