National Ice Center Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Usage

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National Ice Center Synthetic Aperture Radar
(SAR) Usage

• Ms. Sharolyn Young
• NOAA/ NESDIS/ NIC
• August 15, 2007

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NATIONAL ICE CENTER
The Nations Single Inter-agency for Operational
Ice Analysis and Forecasting
Navy-NOAA-USCG MOA Annex II (NAVICE-NESDIS-USCG) F
ormation of National Ice Center 1995 Annex II
Update Signed 21July 2005
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NATIONAL ICE CENTER
Vision Center of excellence in global ice
meteorology and oceanographic services. Mission
To provide the highest quality strategic and
tactical ice services tailored to meet the
operational requirements of U.S. national
interests. To provide specialized meteorological
and oceanographic services to U.S. government
agencies.
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Access to Commercial SAR Data

• At present, the following SAR mission can
  potentially supply the demand of data currently
  used to fulfill US government requirements.
• - All SAR data provided to the US from
  international missions
• Canadian RADARSAT-1
• European Space Agencys Envisat ASAR
• Japanese ALOS PALSAR
• SAR is the only sensor with required
  combination of
• Aerial Coverage (global)
• High Resolution
• Cloud Discerning (Arctic cold regions are
  cloud covered 75-80 of typical winter
  season)
• NOAA/NIC MAJOR CONCERN PRIORITY
• Insuring continued affordable access to SAR
  data.

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SAR Data Requirements
Support NOAAs Mission Goals Goal (4) Support
the Nations Commerce with Information for Safe,
Efficient and Environmentally Sound
Transportation - NIC ice nowcast and
forecast information support vital civilian and
military shipping in waters that contain
navigational ice hazards. Goal (3) Serve
societys need for weather and water
information. - Products provides real-time
ice nowcast to improve accuracy of NWS weather
prediction model outputs Goal (2)
Understand Climate Variability and Change to
Enhance Societys Ability to Plan and Respond
- Polar research activities contribute to
better understanding of cryosphere and oceans
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SAR Requirements (cont)

• Support NAVY Operational Mission Requirements
• SUBFORCE letter 21 SEP 05 (validated by CFFC)
• Daily Ice edge/Marginal Ice Zone
• Fractures, Leads, Polynyas
• Ice thickness twice per week
• Office of Naval Intelligence
• Request for classified products
• Current and expected ice conditions in harbors
• Ice thickness and icebreaking rqmnts in harbors
• Navy Atlantic METOC Center letter 05 SEP 03
  (OTSR Support)
• Route specific ice edge information, iceberg
  position
• Support USCG Icebreaking Missions
• DISTRICT 5 AND 9 MOAS

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FY07 Access to SAR Data

• RADARSAT-1 (R-1)
• Received by U.S. Government (USG) under
  NASA/NOAA/Canadian Space Agency (CSA) MOU
• Under this MOU
• R-1 data currently being received over Western
  Arctic and processed at Alaska Satellite
  Facility (ASF) for an annual fee of 185K.
• SAR over Great Lakes area received from CSA in
  exchange for SAR over Alaska Region.
• Images over all other NIC AORs (Eastern Arctic,
  Antarctic)
• Currently 90 of Navy SAR requirements now met
  via NGA funding.
• CONCERNS
• 1) RADARSAT-1 MOU extension will expire upon
  launch checkout of RADARSAT-2 (est. launch is
  the 3rd Qtr of CY2007 3 months checkout) or
  November 2007.
• 2) R-2 is a commercial mission and currently
  NOAA/Navy expected to pay commercial rates for
  data beginning FY08 beyond. (est. 2000.00 per
  scene)

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Planned (FY08) Access to SAR Data

• Japanese Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS
  ) PALSAR Data
• NOAA/JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)
  /ASF Agreements
• JAXA/ASF/NESDIS MOU ASF will process and
  provide 1800 NRT SAR imagers/yr within Alaska
  station mask
• NASA/NOAA/JAXA/ASF Agreement
• NOAA/JAXA MOU designates ASF as the Americas
  Data Node
• U.S. Government PALSAR Data Consortium
• JAXA authorized distribution of ALOS data through
  regional nodes
• ASF Station mask to offer NRT processed data _at_
  125 per scene
• US government PALSAR data consortium could lower
  cost and enable sharing of data amongst
  government agencies and sponsored researchers.
•  A shared cost of 450K/yr for 11,000 scenes/yr
  would cost about 41/scene (compared to
  125/scene).
• A shared NOAA partnership investment could enable
  cost effective purchase additional Alaska data,
  Great Lakes and other NIC SAR required data.

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Proposed Initiatives for Future SAR Access

• RADARSAT-1 (R-1)
• The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has approved
  funding to extend operation of the RADARSAT-1
  (R-1) satellite throughout the International
  Polar Year (IPY) to March 2009
• Concern For Research use only
• Craig Dobson (NASA) and Eric Madsen (NOAA)
  currently pursuing a R-1 Extension Agreement
  with CSA which addresses USA contribution
  (downlink and ground station assets) for the
  continued operating of R-1 through IPY.
• ISSUE Basic language designates
  Non-Operational use only
• Announcements of Opportunities/Demo Projects
• - Work on International Cooperative Agreements
  to Acquire Data from Future SAR Satellites
• - Federal Government/Private Industry Ventures
• - NOAA Partnerships
• Issue No guaranteed operational Data
  obtained without additional investment funds

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FY 06 RS-1 Data Use via RadarSat-1 MOU
Gatineau, Canada for NSF
Fairbanks, Alaska
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Gatineau, Canada thru CIS and NOAA Exchange
Agreement (Great Lakes Region)
8875
350
2006 Total 8922 SCW Frames
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FY 07 RS-1 Data Use (Naval Ice Center
mission) Via NGA
Gatineau, Canada
Tromso, Norway
313
2831
NGA funded for images to cover of the East
Arctic, Greenland, Yellow Sea, Sea of Okhotsk,
and Sea of Japan Total Funding FY 07 (June 2006
August 2007) - 5.8 FY08 (September 2007
August 2008) - 8.2
2006 Total 3144 SCW Frames
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NIC SAR Usage

• Focused Area Analyses
• Fixed locations such as ports, harbors, river
  mouths, channels and sounds
• Large Area Analysis
• Global Ice monitoring for maritime and
  land-based operations, transits, and search and
  rescue operations
• Area Mapping
• SAR is beneficial for ice climatology, which can
  be added to area maps
• Area Feature Surface Type Identification
  
• In Polar areas, ice can be present on a
  permanent, seasonal or temporary scale
• Ice can affect the availability of piers,
  channels and freeways
• Fast ice and large ice floes can also be used
  tactically as roads or landing sites
• Flood Assessment Mitigation Support
• Ice can cause "ice jams" that effectively dam
  rivers and cause flooding

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SAR Usage

• Sea ice, Iceberg Obstacle Detection
• Sea ice analysis and forecasting is critical to
  submarine, icebreaking, ice transiting, and
  on-ice operations
• Sea ice monitoring on a regular basis provides a
  database for climatology studies
• Pollution Assessment Mitigation Support
• SAR is capable of detecting pollution events such
  as oil spills or large scale oil dumps in the
  open ocean

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NIC SAR Imaging Requirements

• NIC uses primarily ScanSAR Wide for scale
  analysis. Occasionally, the NIC requires higher
  resolution imagery for tactical scale analysis
  and Iceberg detection.
• The examples below are based on Radarsat 1
  specifications
• ScanSAR Wide
• 100 meter nominal spatial resolution
• 500 X 500 km swath width
• ScanSAR Narrow
• 50 meter nominal spatial resolution
• 300 X 300 km swath width
• Standard
• 30 meter nominal spatial resolution
• 100 X 100 km swath width
• Wide
• 30 meter nominal spatial resolution
• 300 X 300 km swath width

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Scope of the Budgetary Challengefor NIC Mission
Requirements

• MAXIMUM SAR IMAGERY COST FOR NOAA

AREA Maximum Coverage x 2000 Median Coverage x 2000 Minimum Coverage x 2000 Current Coverage x 2000
Great Lakes 1272 705 354 310
U.S. East Coast (D-1) 1358 1052 563 0
U.S. East Coast (D-5) 210 152 53 10
Total U.S. Lake River Coverage 2840 1908 970 470
Western Arctic (Alaska) 9945 3684 3660 8875 (R-1 MOU)
Eastern Arctic (Yel./Okst/Japan) 11,102 5384 4528 (2738 5,200K) 330 600K
Antarctic 5187 2912 624 29
Total NOAA SAR Coverage 14,057 3,297 4,984 9655
Total NIC Mission Coverage 14,057 X 2000 28.1M 3,297 X 2000 6.6M 4984 X 2000 10M 9655 X 2000 19.3M
COST if NIC paid Commercial Rates. (Current
NOAA Cost is 185K because of RadarSat MOU)
Paid by NGA for Navy SAR
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Questions?