Simulation of Geosynchronous Hydroterra Image Products with Airborne SAR Data

Abstract:
Hydroterra was one of the three mission concepts competing for the Earth Explorer 10. The idea of this concept is to place a SAR system into a geosynchronous orbit to measure key processes of the diurnal water cycle. The DLR Microwaves and Radar Institute conducted an airborne SAR campaign to support the Phase 0 study of Hydroterra and gain knowledge about geosynchronous SAR data processing, where long integration times are needed to achieve the required azimuth resolution. In this paper the airborne experiment and the simulation procedure are described. The simulated Hydroterra products are demonstrated and analyzed. Additionally, these data are used to generate interferometric products and to evaluate the impact of radio frequency interference.