PALSAR data ß Technical Document

1. PALSAR data ß

PALSAR data ß is the name of PALSAR products generated by GEO Grid satellite imagery management system. The products which contains so-call Level 1.1 and/or higher levels, are generated through on-demand and on-line basis

2. Products

PALSAR data ß has five types of products.

SCC（Single-look Slant range Complex）
MSA（Multi-look Slant range Amplitude）
MGA（Multi-look Ground range Amplitude）
MGG（Multi-look Ground range Georeferenced Amplitude)
MGO（Multi-look Ground range Orthorectified Amplitude）

Look numbers of Multi-look image are depend on the pixel spacing requested by users.
STRM DEM (Digital Elevation Model derived from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) is applied to generate MGO product.

3. Product options

Radiometric calibration
- Choose a radiometric calibration procedure. Click "None" button if you need not apply the radiometric calibration, while click "AIST" if you need radiometric calibrated product.
Polarimetric calibration
- Choose a polarimetric calibration procedure. Click "None" button if you need not apply the polarimetric calibration, while click "AIST" if you need polarimetric calibrated product.
Unit
- Choose a unit of products. The relation between DN(Digital Number) and dB(decibel) is indicated <<B>>
  - dB = 10.0 * log10(DN * DN)

* You can not choose dB when a product type is SSC.

Map Projection
- Choose either UTM(Universal Transverse Mercator) or EQA(Equiangular Coordinates projection) as map projection of products.

* You can choose this map projection when the product type is MGG or MGO.

Pixel Spacing
- Choose one of pixel spacings of products when the product type is MGG or MGO.
Interpolation Method
- Choose one of interpolation methods for map projection.
- 1/dist
- Nearest Neighbor
- SQR(1/dist)
- Constant
- Gaussian
Digital Elevation Model
- Choose either ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) or Suttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) as a degital elevation model. If you order iamges, which out of the range between 56 degrees south and 60 degrees north, you must apply GDEM to the option.
Output Format
- Choose either Flat binary or GeoTIFF as a output format of products. If product type is SSC, you can choose only Flat Binary. Additionally, ENVI header file is attached when Flat binary is selected.
Data Type
- Choose either Float or 2-byte integer as data type of products.
If you choose 2-byte integer type with dB, you need to calculate actual values using following equation.
- Actual value (dB) = 0.01 * pixel value (dB)

4. Files of product

File name
- A product is compressed with bz2. ex.AL1PAL~.tar.bz2
  Detail product files indicate in following table.

	product type
		SCC	MSA	MGA	MGG	MGO
file type	1. image data	raw	raw+hdr or tif	raw+hdr or tif	raw +hdr or tif	raw+hdr or tif
	2. browse image	jpg	jpg	jpg	jpg	jpg
	3. option file	USER_OPT.txt	USER_OPT.txt	USER_OPT.txt	USER_OPT.txt	USER_OPT.txt
	4. parameter imfoemation1	PROC_PAR_**.txt	PROC_PAR_**.txt	PROC_PAR_**.txt	PROC_PAR_**.txt	PROC_PAR_**.txt
	5. parameter imfoemation2	PROC.par	PROC.par	PROC.par	GCMAP_PAR_**.par	GCMAP_PAR_**.par

5. Calibration

The status and accuracy of the calibrated products are described here.

6. Sample products

You can download sample products in here.