HR: 16:45h
AN: IN54A-04    [Abstracts]
TI: First high-spatial- and high-temporal-resolution optical imagery of polar regions from Formosat-2
AU: * Liu, C
EM: ccliu88@mail.ncku.edu.tw
AF: Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Satellite Informatics and Earth Environment, Earth Dynamic System Research Center, Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, No 1, Ta-Hsueh Road, Tainan, 701, Taiwan
AU: Chang, Y
EM: yuehcheng.chang@gmail.com
AF: Institute of Satellite Informatics and Earth Environment, National Cheng Kung University, No 1, Ta-Hsueh Road, Tainan, 701, Taiwan
AU: Huang, S
EM: stefani@nspo.org.tw
AF: National Space Organization, 8F, 9 Prosperity 1st Road, Science Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan
AU: Wu, F
EM: fwu@nspo.org.tw
AF: National Space Organization, 8F, 9 Prosperity 1st Road, Science Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan
AU: Wu, A
EM: amwu@nspo.org.tw
AF: National Space Organization, 8F, 9 Prosperity 1st Road, Science Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan
AB: Coordinating and collecting satellite data of changing polar environments is one of the prime activities during the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008. Earlier efforts in manoeuvring Radarsat-1 in a special mode provided the radar images with a spatial resolution of 30m of the entirety of Antarctica during September to October 1997. Limited to their swath and pointing capability, however, the operation of optical satellites with high-spatial- resolution sensors is generally restricted to certain latitudes. For example, Landsat and SPOT missions have been able to provide high-spatial-resolution optical imagery only to latitude ~81 degree North and South since 1980s. The coverage is now extended to ~86 degree by ASTER since 2000s, but there is still no space-borne optical image of the polar regions with latitudes higher than 86 degree. Another limitation is the temporal- resolution of the optical satellite operated in the general near-polar orbit, which is usually low from a few days to a few tens of days. To detect the subtle and dynamic changes occurred in the polar region of higher latitude, we need to resort to a new system with both high-spatial- and high-temporal-resolution. The successful operation of Formosat-2 launched on 21 May 2004 proved the concept that the temporal resolution of a remote sensing system can be much improved by deploying a high-spatial-resolution sensor in a daily revisit orbit, and each accessible scene can be systematically observed from the same angle under the similar illumination conditions. These characteristics make Formosat-2 an ideal satellite for site surveillance, particular in the polar regions. To support IPY 2007-2008, the National Space Organization (NSPO) of Taiwan launched a Polar Imaging Campaign (PIC) from March 2006. In this paper, we describe the imaging procedure and present (1) the first high-spatial-resolution (2m) and multi-spectral (red, green, blue and near-infrared) image of Amundsen-Scoot South Polar Station taken by Formosat-2, (2) the digital elevation model of Alert, the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world, generated from the across-track stereo images taken by Formosat-2, and (3) the daily change of the ice shelf and the track of floating ice with size of tens of meters for five consecutive days. The results demonstrate that the high-spatial- and high-temporal-resolution optical imagery of polar regions taken from Formosat-2 could be a very useful source of data for researches in polar regions. To support IPY 2007-2008, NSPO provides access to all of its Formosat-2 imagery collected during PIC.
DE: 0728 Ice shelves
DE: 0758 Remote sensing
DE: 5462 Polar regions
DE: 5754 Polar regions
DE: 9820 Techniques applicable in three or more fields
SC: Earth and Space Science Informatics [IN]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting