Mobile version

SWOT Validation campaign: BUSARD

In February 2011, first campaign for SWOT  preparation

Objectives

The instrument that will fly on board SWOT is a radar interferometer in Ka Band. There is few studies of  backscatter by natural surfaces in this frequency band, in peculiar for a near nadir geometry. These studies are concerning a low diversity of surface types and small number of associated parameters (with narrow variation range)  : incidence angle, soil humidity and roughness, and over sea, water salinity and waves height.
Simulators have been developed by  JPL and CNES, taking into account radiometric and geometric aspects.  It is necessary to validate these results using ground truth in flight measurements.

Means

The instrument

During the campaign, DRIVE radar flying on  board moto glidder BUSARD, both ONERA means,  have been operated.
DRIVE is a  band Ka radar. It is operated in interferometric mode short base (18 cm) or long base (4,7 m) .
 
Flying altitude is 3000m and swath path is  700m. Measurements are acquired along 5 km segments (2 minutes).
 

Observation site

The  DRIVE/BUSARD campaign for SWOT was operated during the first 2011 semester in Camargue.Space measurements has been coupled  with ground  measurements for wind speed, water and soil roughness,  soil wetness, vegetation parameters, as well as altitude and slopes measurements, allowing comparisons with models and simulations.
Interferometrics measurements were settled above several sites : Rhône river south Arles, coast at Piemanson and around a buoy in the  Mediterranean sea.

Results


The radar image is nearly  1800 m long and 750m wide. Vertical mesurements are at the top of the image and the bottom corresponds to incidence 14°.
The bright zone is Rhône river, with its banks darker.

EnglishFrançais
Rss feedsContactPartnersFAQLexiconLegal noticePersonal Data Protection PolicyMobile
You must enable cookies in your browser preferences to save the modifications
You are using an older version of Internet Explorer, please update to take full advantage of Aviso+ features

Customize the home page

View all widgets
Reduce display
Public profile
User profile

Select/Deselect widgets

Discover AVISO+

Customizable home, reading tools, products search guide, etc.. Discover step by step the features of the new site AVISO+.

Customizable homepage

This home page is composed of blocks called "widgets".

Rearrange the blocks with a "Click & Drop".

Hide a widget with the cross at the top right. Reset or add a widget with the "wrench" icon. The "User" and "Public" profiles offer a predefined organization.

All the modifications are automatically saved as cookies on your machine so as to enable you to have your own specific AVISO+.

Reading tools

Ease your reading by choosing the page background colour (black/white) and/or by modifying the font size.

Browsing menu and breadcrum trail

To ease your browsing through AVISO+, you can use at any time the main banner items with the interactive submenus or use the browsing menu on the left side of the screen (it is open by default). For more readiness of the page contents, you can fold and unfold the browsing menu by clicking on the tab. At any time you can know where you are thanks to the browsing menu or the breadcrum at the top of the page.

Products search guide

The first submenu of the "Data" banner item leads you to a new search form enabling you to find quickier the product that suits your needs. The list of results is updated according to your selection criteria.

AVISO+ Multimedia

The first submenu of the "Multimedia" banner item leads you to AVISO+ collections of images and videos linked to altimetry and its applications. Have a nice visit!