New Orleans Radar

Innovative research and development into the application of RadarSat-1 interferometric data for subsidence mapping in New Orleans

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are jointly sponsoring an international Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to stimulate new methods for measuring subsidence. Detailed subsidence information is applicable to both Nation’s interest in monitoring and mitigating environmental and disaster issues and for other earth science applications.

The CSA is the point of contact for the coordination of the call for proposals. Various data sets for this initiative are available through this site to the researchers who have submitted approved proposals. The CSA has provided the RADARSAT-1 data for this project.

RADARSAT-1

Must be an Authorized researcher to Download RADARSAT data.

Description:

Launched in November 1995, RADARSAT-1 ushered in a new age in remote sensing and firmly positioned Canada as a leader in the internationally competitive Earth observation market. Unlike most remote sensing satellites which use optical sensors to capture sunlight reflected from the Earth, RADARSAT-1 is able to collect imagery of the Earth day or night and through clouds using a powerful microwave Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system. Placed in a near-polar orbit, approximately 800 km above the Earth, RADARSAT-1 produces high resolution images of the Earth's surface. These images are used in monitoring the environment and managing the Earth's natural resources.

RADARSAT-1 InSAR data sets have been collected over New Orleans by the CSA and are available from this site in either Level 0 or SLC formats. Additional new InSAR data sets will be collected over New Orleans until the end of December, 2007 and will be posted to this site as they become available.

Data Access

Only authorized users may access this data. Authorized users have been determined according to the Announcement of Opportunity (AO).

The USGS is making multiple datasets over the New Orleans area downloadable at no cost to the user. These include:

Landsat 7

Description:

This is a collection of Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) imagery. ETM+ is a multispectral scanning radiometer that is carried on board the Landsat 7 satellite. The ETM+ instrument provides image data from eight spectral bands (band designations). The spatial resolution is 30 meters for the visible and near-infrared (bands 1-5 and 7). Resolution for the panchromatic (band 8) is 15 meters, and the thermal infrared (band 6) is 60 meters. The approximate scene size is 170 x 183 kilometers (106 x 115 miles).

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The sensor has provided nearly continuous acquisitions since July 1999, with a 16-day repeat cycle. An instrument malfunction occurred on May 31, 2003, with the result that all Landsat 7 scenes acquired since July 14, 2003 have been collected in "SLC-off" mode.

Data Access:

Landsat 7 Data

Additional information:

http://edc.usgs.gov/products/satellite/landsat7.html

Landsat 5

Description:

This is a collection of Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery. TM is a multispectral scanning radiometer that is carried on board the Landsat 5 satellite TM image data consists of seven spectral bands (band designations) with a spatial resolution of 30 meters for most bands (1-5 and 7). Spatial resolution for the thermal infrared (band 6) during image acquisition is 120 meters, but the delivered TM band 6 will be resampled to 30 meter pixel size. The approximate scene size will be 170 x 183 kilometers (106 x 115 miles).

Data Access:

Landsat 5 Data

Additional information:

http://edc.usgs.gov/products/satellite/tm.html

NED

Description:

This is a collection of 1/3 arc second (10 meter spacing) and 1 arc second (30 meter spacing) digital raster elevation data that covers the conterminous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands.

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The USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED) has been developed by merging the highest-resolution, best quality elevation data available across the United States into a seamless raster format. NED is the result of the maturation of the USGS effort to provide 1:24,000-scale Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data for the conterminous US and 1:63,360-scale DEM data for Alaska. The dataset provides seamless coverage of the United States, HI, AK, and the island territories. NED has a consistent projection (Geographic), resolution (1 arc second), and elevation units (meters). The horizontal datum is NAD83, except for AK, which is NAD27. The vertical datum is NAVD88, except for AK, which is NAVD29. NED is a living dataset that is updated bimonthly to incorporate the "best available" DEM data. As more 1/3 arc second (10m) data covers the US, then this will also be a seamless dataset.

Data Access:

Additional information:

DOQQ orthoimagery

Description:

A Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle (DOQ) is a computer-generated image of an aerial photograph in which the image displacement caused by terrain relief and camera tilt has been removed. The DOQ combines the image characteristics of the original photograph with the georeferenced qualities of a map. DOQs have a 1-meter ground resolution and are available in black and white (B/W) and/or color-infrared (CIR).

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This is an aerial collection of 3.75-minute (quarter-quad) DOQs cover an area measuring 3.75-minutes longitude by 3.75-minutes latitude. Quarter-quad DOQs are often available in both Native and GeoTIFF formats. Native format consists of an ASCII keyword header followed by a series of 8-bit binary image lines for B/W and 24-bit band-interleaved-by-pixel (BIP) for color. DOQs in Native format are cast to the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection and referenced to either the North American Datum (NAD) of 1927 (NAD27) or the NAD of 1983 (NAD83). GeoTIFF format consists of a georeferenced Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), with all geographic referencing information embedded within the .tif file. DOQs in GeoTIFF format are cast to the UTM projection and referenced to NAD83. The average file size of a B/W quarter quad is 40-45 megabytes, and a color file is generally 140-150 megabytes. Quarter-quad DOQs are distributed on CD-ROM, DVD, 8-mm tape, and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) as uncompressed files.

Data Access:

DOQQ Datasets
DOQQ shapefile

Additional information:

NASA is making ASTER and EO-1 satellite data available in support of the project.

ASTER

Description:

This is a collection of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery. ASTER provides fourteen spectral bands with 15- to 90-meter resolution depending on bands.

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ASTER is a cooperative effort between NASA, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Japan's Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC).

ASTER is one of a number of instruments on board the Terra platform, which was launched in December 1999. ASTER does not acquire data continuously, and its sensors are activated only to collect specific scenes upon request.

The instrument consists of three separate telescopes, each of which provides different spectral range and resolution. The VNIR (visible and near-infrared) sensor provides 4 bands at 15-meter resolution. The SWIR (short-wave infrared) sensor provides 6 bands at 30-meter resolution. The TIR (thermal infrared) sensor provides 5 bands at 90-meter resolution. The swath width for all sensors is 60 kilometers.

ASTER data distributed from the Land Processess Distributed Active Archive Center is available in the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection, with a resampling method of cubic convolution for daytime scenes and nearest neighbor for nighttime scenes. Files are in the HDF-EOS format.

Information courtesy of USGS

Data Access:

ASTER data

Additional information:

EO-1 satellite collections

Description:

This collection of imagery includes 10-30 meter multispectal (Advanced Land Imager (ALI)). and hyperspectral (Hyperion) data from the Earth Observing-1 satellite.

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The Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite was launched November 21, 2000 as a one-year technology demonstration/validation mission. After the initial technology mission was completed, NASA and the USGS agreed to the continuation of the EO-1 program as an Extended Mission. The EO-1 Extended Mission is chartered to collect and distribute Hyperion hyperspectral and Advanced Land Imager (ALI) multispectral products according to customer tasking requests.

The EO-1 satellite follows the WRS-2 path and row system with a 16-day repeat cycle. The spacecraft follows Landsat 7 by approximately one minute, and is also capable of cross-track pointing to allow potential imaging within one adjacent WRS path in each direction from nadir.

Instruments on board the EO-1 spacecraft:

Advanced Land Imager (ALI) provides image data from ten spectral bands (band designations). The instrument operates in a pushbroom fashion, with a spatial resolution of 30 meters for the multispectral bands and 10 meters for the panchromatic band. The standard scene width is 37 kilometers. Standard scene length is 42 kilometers, with an optional increased scene length of 185 kilometers (additional information).
Hyperion collects 220 unique spectral channels ranging from 0.357 to 2.576 micrometers with a 10-nm bandwidth. The instrument operates in a pushbroom fashion, with a spatial resolution of 30 meters for all bands. The standard scene width is 7.7 kilometers. Standard scene length is 42 kilometers, with an optional increased scene length of 185 kilometers (additional information).

Data Access:

Ali Data
Hyperion Data

Additional information:

Research Results

Papers summarizing the results of the research will be prepared in the future and will be made available to the public on this site.

For more information or assistance with this site, please contact:

custserv@usgs.gov