DEMO 06 · RADAR EARTH

Dancing with the SARs

Compare synthetic radar layers and learn how radar missions can measure surface change.

Spacey's briefing

Synthetic aperture radar is an active sensor: it sends microwave energy and measures what returns. Repeated radar observations can reveal motion from earthquakes, glaciers, landslides and other changes.

Need to move on? You can skip Chapter 6, but Spacey will remember that you skipped it.

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Active sensingRadar supplies its own signal instead of relying on sunlight.

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All-weather strengthMicrowave radar can observe through many cloud conditions.

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Measure changeCarefully compared observations can reveal very small surface movement.

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WATCH & UNDERSTAND

NISAR: Tracking Earth’s Changes From Space

NISAR is a joint NASA-ISRO radar mission designed to measure changes in Earth's land and ice. The overview shows why radar is powerful for monitoring a changing planet.

Video source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on YouTube. It plays inside this page when internet access is available.