9 Alaska SAR Facility: The US Science (enter for Sea Ice SAR Data
195
NASA Wallops Flight Facility, with the assistance of the NSF, installed the ground station and radome at McMurdo Station on Ross Island, Antarctica (77.8°S, 166.7°E) during the 1994/95 Antarctic summer season. In January, 1996, McMurdo became an official ERS ground station, although considerable testing data had already been collected, and in the same month the first RADARSAT data acquisitions were made.
The SAR reception at McMurdo Ground Station will mean that real-time downlink
data from SAR satellites is now possible for all of Antarctica, as shown in Fig. 1, because
of the coverage afforded by three receiving stations, one at O'Higgins Station on King
Island, operated by Chile and supporting a German station, one at the Japanese station
at Syowa, and McMurdo. Only McMurdo Ground Station will be operational for 12
months per year, but most of the austral winter data will of necessity be stored at
McMurdo until it can be removed in spring, according to current data-handling capabilities. The SAR signal data cassettes will be flown to ASF where they will be processed
into images and distributed to users.
9.2
ASF in Polar Regions Science
The disciplines addressed by RADARSAT data focus on polar issues, and they contribute
collectively to earth science. Brief scientific motivations for the different areas follow.
Polar Oceans. The polar oceans are regions where strong air-sea-ice interactions occur
that contribute to the heat and brine balance of the world ocean. Furthermore, the polar
oceans and their adjoining subpolar gyres are biologically the most active regions of
the world oceans. Mineral resources are also known or presumed to exist in the sedimentary rocks of their continental shelves. Finally, the ice in the polar oceans acts as
an impedance to shipping across otherwise highly advantageous marine trade routes.
Ice Sheets. The immense ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland exert important radiative and thermal influences on both regional and global climate, and in addition are vast
storehouses of freshwater, thus serving as an important reservoir for sea level changes.
Glaciers and Lake Ice. The extent of glaciers and their ablation zones as well as lake ice
cover serve as indicators of the seasonal climate cycle and are also significant elements
of regional hydrology.
Boreal Forests. The global forests are storehouses of carbon in both standing and dead
biomass, and they are also critical elements of the hydrological cycle.
Boreal Wetlands. The wetlands, primarily boreal in nature, and the permafrost zones
are sites of gas flux into the atmosphere and are valuable regional climate indicators.
Seasonal Snowcover. Snowcover is critical to the radiative balance and in many regions
is the controlling element of soil temperature and moisture.
Geology and Geophysics. Geology studies include the study of seismic and volcanic
deformation, especially the effects oflarge explosive eruptions on Earth's radiation bal-
195
NASA Wallops Flight Facility, with the assistance of the NSF, installed the ground station and radome at McMurdo Station on Ross Island, Antarctica (77.8°S, 166.7°E) during the 1994/95 Antarctic summer season. In January, 1996, McMurdo became an official ERS ground station, although considerable testing data had already been collected, and in the same month the first RADARSAT data acquisitions were made.
The SAR reception at McMurdo Ground Station will mean that real-time downlink
data from SAR satellites is now possible for all of Antarctica, as shown in Fig. 1, because
of the coverage afforded by three receiving stations, one at O'Higgins Station on King
Island, operated by Chile and supporting a German station, one at the Japanese station
at Syowa, and McMurdo. Only McMurdo Ground Station will be operational for 12
months per year, but most of the austral winter data will of necessity be stored at
McMurdo until it can be removed in spring, according to current data-handling capabilities. The SAR signal data cassettes will be flown to ASF where they will be processed
into images and distributed to users.
9.2
ASF in Polar Regions Science
The disciplines addressed by RADARSAT data focus on polar issues, and they contribute
collectively to earth science. Brief scientific motivations for the different areas follow.
Polar Oceans. The polar oceans are regions where strong air-sea-ice interactions occur
that contribute to the heat and brine balance of the world ocean. Furthermore, the polar
oceans and their adjoining subpolar gyres are biologically the most active regions of
the world oceans. Mineral resources are also known or presumed to exist in the sedimentary rocks of their continental shelves. Finally, the ice in the polar oceans acts as
an impedance to shipping across otherwise highly advantageous marine trade routes.
Ice Sheets. The immense ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland exert important radiative and thermal influences on both regional and global climate, and in addition are vast
storehouses of freshwater, thus serving as an important reservoir for sea level changes.
Glaciers and Lake Ice. The extent of glaciers and their ablation zones as well as lake ice
cover serve as indicators of the seasonal climate cycle and are also significant elements
of regional hydrology.
Boreal Forests. The global forests are storehouses of carbon in both standing and dead
biomass, and they are also critical elements of the hydrological cycle.
Boreal Wetlands. The wetlands, primarily boreal in nature, and the permafrost zones
are sites of gas flux into the atmosphere and are valuable regional climate indicators.
Seasonal Snowcover. Snowcover is critical to the radiative balance and in many regions
is the controlling element of soil temperature and moisture.
Geology and Geophysics. Geology studies include the study of seismic and volcanic
deformation, especially the effects oflarge explosive eruptions on Earth's radiation bal-