Initiatives and Collaborations
SAR Antartic Campaigns
Since 2022 and from a proposal of the PAZ AO-001 call, we participate in the annual Southern Antarctic Campaigns in Deception Island, in collaboration with our colleagues from INTA-LABINGE, Ejército de Tierra, the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering, UPM and the National Geographic Institute (IGN), under the auspices of the Spanish Polar Committee (CPE).
What initially began as a collaboration for the quantification and control of ground movements and displacements of the cliff coastline on Deception Island, with special emphasis on the areas surrounding the Spanish Antarctic Base Gabriel de Castilla (BAEG) using PAZ images, has become an opportunity for the extension of the INTA Calibration Field, with a subset of SAR reflectors, that allow carry out different studies of scientific-tenological interest on the Island.
Among others, the monitoring of radiometric and geometric constants of PAZ imaging products supported by reflectors deployed at polar latitudes or the effects of plate dynamics in the area. These reflectors are also an important pillar in studies based on interferometric techniques such as the generation of DEMs and deformation maps of the island.
P. Cifuentes, N. Gimeno, N. Casal, J.M. Cuerda. Ampliación del campo de calibración INTA en Isla Decepción. IV Congreso de Ingenieria Espacial, junio 2022.
P. Cifuentes, N. Casal, N. Gimeno, J.M. Cuerda. Geodynamic effects on ground calibration localization with PAZ satellite. X Asamblea Hispano Portuguesa de Geodesia y Geofísica, noviembre 2022.
¡Tenemos triedros de calibración de PAZ en la Antártida!
Campaña Antártica ET @Antartica_ET
Do you have a question or project of scientific interest in this latitude that could be addressed with SAR imagery?
ERGNSS network link project
In the framework of the agreement between the National Geographic Institute (IGN) and INTA for the deployment of radar calibration elements and support for scientific exploitation, several stations of the permanent IGN GNSS network, some of them also included in the IGS and EUREF networks, are being analyzed for the location of new SAR corner reflectors, even a first corner reflector has already been deployed at Yebes Astronomical Observatory, Guadalajara. The placement of reflectors at points in the Spanish National Geodetic Reference GNSS network (ERGNSS) network will improve their coordinates accuracy and also the corrections for fine geophysical disturbances at the reflector position.
N. Casal, P. Cifuentes, N. Gimeno, J.M. Cuerda. Extension of the INTA Calibration Field. Link to the ERGNSS Network. CEOS-Working Group in Calibration and Validation, octubre 2023.
N. Casal, P. Cifuentes, N. Gimeno, J.M. Cuerda. INTA SAR calibration field - Needs for its integration into IGS network. X Asamblea Hispano Portuguesa de Geodesia y Geofísica, noviembre 2022.
The SARCalNet initiative
As active members of the CEOS-WGCV (Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, Working Group on Calibration and Validation, Synthetic Aperture Radar Subgroup), we also collaborate with scientists and engineers representing many SAR mission agencies in the SARCalNet initiative.
This initiative aims to promote standardised SAR calibration and facilitate harmonised implementation of calibration/assessment tasks by a broad SAR community by providing a network of curated SAR calibration sites and well-established calibration/assessment procedures.
Keep you posted!