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Conceptual study of lunar-based SAR for global change monitoring

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Abstract

As an active microwave remote sensing imaging sensor, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) plays an important role in earth observation. Here we establish a SAR system based on the platform of the moon. This will aid large-scale, constant, and long-term dynamic Earth observations to better meet the needs of global change research and to complement the space borne and airborne earth observations. Lunar-based SAR systems have the characteristics of high resolution and wide swath width. The swath width could be thousands of kilometers in the stripe mode and it could cover 40% of earth’s surface with 10 meters or even higher spatial resolution in the scanning mode. Using the simplified observation model, here we quantitatively analyze the spatial resolution and coverage area of lunar-based SAR and simulate the observation on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and the Amazon plain. The results show that this system could provide near 100% daily coverage of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, whereas 40% to 70% daily coverage of the Amazon plain. Lunar-based SAR could provide large-scale, long-term and stable time series data in order to support future research of global change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China

    HuaDong Guo, YiXing Ding, Guang Liu, DaoWei Zhang, WenXue Fu & Lu Zhang

  2. College of Resources and Environment University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    YiXing Ding

Authors
  1. HuaDong Guo
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  2. YiXing Ding
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  3. Guang Liu
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  4. DaoWei Zhang
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  5. WenXue Fu
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  6. Lu Zhang
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Correspondence to HuaDong Guo.

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Guo, H., Ding, Y., Liu, G. et al. Conceptual study of lunar-based SAR for global change monitoring. Sci. China Earth Sci. 57, 1771–1779 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-013-4714-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-013-4714-2

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