6. SATELLITE DATA ACQUISITIONS

6.1. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM)

TM scenes have been acquired for four dates from previous years to assist in the site selection and vegetation studies. We will attempt to acquire two dates of coverage during the experiment period in 1997.

6.2. Priroda

Priroda is a module on the Russian MIR spacecraft. It is in a circular orbit at an altitude of 360 km over the Earth surface and inclination of 51.7^o. Priroda includes a variety of unique remote sensing instruments, especially passive microwave. Major features are described in Table 11. Data are being requested for all possible coverages, however, there are potential conflicts that may limit coverage. In addition, data turnaround is uncertain at this time since there have been no data sets provided to date.

Table 11. Priroda Sensors
Sensor	Wavelength	Beamwidth (Degrees)	Spatial Resolution (km)	Swath (km)
Passive Microwave (IKAR)
IKAR-N (Nadir)	0.3, 0.8, 1.35, 2.25, 6 cm	9	60	60
IKAR-D (Scanning)	0.3, 0.8, 1.35, 4 cm	1, 1.5, 2, 6	5, 8, 15, 50	400
IKAR-P (Pushbroom)	2.25 and 6 cm)	6,12	75	750
Radar (Travers)
SAR	9.2 and 23 cm	1x4, 2.5 x 4	0.15	100
Visible and Infrared
ISTOK	3.6 -16 m>	64 channel	1 x 6	6
MOS-OBZOR	0.415 -1.03 m>	17	0.6	80
MSU-SK	0.5 -12.>	5	120 m	350
MSU-E	0.5 - 0.9 m>	3	35 m	27

6.3. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)

This is a TIROS-N series satellite designed to operate in a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit. There may be two satellites in this series that are in orbit during the experiments. The NOAA-14 satellite in the ascending node (northbound Equator crossing) has a daytime pass of approximately 1340 hours local solar time. The NOAA-12 satellite in the descending node (southbound Equator crossing) has a daytime pass of approximately 0730 hours. Sensor characteristics are described below.

Sensor Band Characteristics:

Band 1 0.58 - 0.68 (micrometers)

Band 2 0.725 - 1.10

Band 3 3.55 - 3.93

Band 4 10.3 - 11.3

Band 5 11.5 - 12.5

Sensor Spatial Resolution:	1.1 Km (all bands) at Nadir pass
Temporal Resolution:	14.1 orbits/day
Swath:	2048 pixels wide
Scan Angle Range:	-55.4 to +55.4 degrees

6.4. Radar Satellites

Data from three different synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites will be acquired, pending negotiations. These are Radarsat, ERS, and JERS.

Radarsat is operated by the Canadian Space Agency. It is a C band SAR with HH polarization. It is in a sun­synchronous orbit at an altitude of 798 kilometers above the Earth, at an inclination of 98.6 degrees to the equatorial plane. The sun­synchronous orbit also means that the satellite overpasses are always at the same local mean time. As opposed to the other radar satellites, Radarsat can provide a variety of beam selections. It has the ability to shape and steer its beam from an incidence angle of less than 20 degrees to more than 50 degrees, in swaths of 35 to 500 kilometers, using resolutions ranging from 10 to 100 meters. Up to 20 scenes will be acquired (various dates, configurations and coverage areas), however, these data are subject to distribution limitations due to Radarsat regulations.

The ERS (European Remote Sensing Satellite) is a global environmental monitoring satellite that has a fixed incidence angle of 23^o. It is a C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) operating at VV polarization. As much coverage as possible will be requested for the experiment period. These data will have restrictions on distribution.

JERS-1 (the Japanese Environmental Satellite) is an L-band HH SAR operating at an incidence angle of 30^o. At least one scene will be requested and distribution may be restricted.

6.5. Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I)

The (SSM/I) has been a part of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) since July, 1987. It is a multifrequency imaging radiometer that utilizes conical scanning at an incidence angle of 50^o. It operates in a circular sun­synchronous near polar orbit at an altitude of 833 km and an inclination of 98.8^o. Basic parameters for the sensors are listed in Table 12.

Table 12. SSM/I Sensors
Frequency (GHz)	Polarizations	Resolution (km) (along and cross track)
19.35	V and H	69 x 43
22.235	V	60 x 40
37.0	V and H	37 x 28
85.5	V and H	15 x 13

The total swath is 1400 km. We will attempt to acquire data from all passes and satellites during the study period. These data will be resampled to a standard grid.

6.6. GOES (expected 5/1/97)