Image Gallery

This page provides some examples of pictures created and analyses made from Scatterometer Climate Record Pathfinder data with simple captions. If you want image data sets, click on the Image Data, Data Search, or Derived Products links.

	Iceberg Tracking Database (Pathfinder) Tracking and observation of icebergs from 1978 and 1992 to present, presented in this image of the Antartic. QuikSCAT images are used for near-real time iceberg tracking.
	World Winds (QuikSCAT) Produced entirely from Quikscat data, this image illustrates the wealth of information available in scatterometer data. Over the ocean, colors indicate wind speed (blue is low, yellow high) while the wind direction is indicated with white streamlines. The land areas are enhanced resolution backscatter values ranging from high values in tropical vegetation to low values in the deserts. The sea ice extent at the poles is calculated from the scatterometer data and is imaged as enhanced resolution backscatter values. The dry snow zone and melt facies of Greenland can be clearly distinguished. Click on the image for a larger view. (Image copyright BYU, 2000.)
	Huricanes and Tropical Cyclones(QuikSCAT and SeaWinds) The QuikSCAT resolution enhancement algorithm used for land imaging can be adapted to supported ultra-high (2.5 km posting) resolution (UHR) wind measurement. This image shows winds speeds around the eye of Hurricane Katrina on 28 Aug. 2005. UHR winds provide additional detail about the storm and can aid in storm tracking. UHR wind images are available in near-real time from NOAA and the JPL PO.DAAC.
	Antartic Ice (QuikSCAT) A reduced-resolution image formed from QuikSCAT sigma-0 measurements that demonstrates the wealth of information contained in the scatterometer data. This image shows Antarctica and the surrounding sea ice constructed from a single day of scatterometer data in July 1999. This image reveals the presense of iceberg B10A, a 50 km x 100 km "super-berg" which broke off the Thwaites ice tongue in 1995 and circulated in the sea-ice pack until breaking up north of South Georia Island in Jan. 2000. Lost by the U.S. National Ice Center, this iceberg was rediscovered by QuikSCAT shortly after QuikSCAT's launch. The grey band around the continent is sea-ice pack surrounding Antarctica. The variations in sea ice show the circulation patterns and are due to the snow cover, thickness, and history of the ice since formation. This information is essential to understand the effects of the ice pack on the ocean and climate systems. Antarctica is overed with a thick ice sheet which appears very bright in the image due to snow crust and refrozen ice in the snow cover. Details visible in the glacial ice cover show the locations of ice "hills" and "valleys" which reveal information about the flow of the ice over the subsurface topography. In this image, open ocean has been masked off using the QuikSCAT sea extent algorithm.
	Antartic Image (NSCAT) An image formed from NSCAT sigma-0 measurements that demonstrate the wealth of information contained in the scatterometer data. This image shows Antarctica and the surrounding sea ice constructed from 6 days of scatterometer data in Sept. 1996. The black circle in the center of the image is where no data was collected owing to NSCAT's orbital and sampling geometry. The dark band around the continent is sea-ice pack surrounding Antarctica. The variations in sea ice show the circulation patterns and are due to the snow cover, thickness, and history of the ice since formation. This information is essential to understand the effects of the ice pack on the ocean and climate systems. The white, rectangular object in the ice pack on the lower left of the image is the the B10A 50 km x 100 km "super-berg" which broke off the Thwaites ice tongue in 1995 and circulate in the sea-ice pack until breaking up north of South Georia Island in Jan. 2000. Other large icebergs are also visible in the image. Antarctica is overed with a thick ice sheet which appears very bright in the image due to snow crust and refrozen ice in the snow cover. Details visible in the glacial ice cover show the locations of ice "hills" and "valleys" which reveal information about the flow of the ice over the subsurface topography. In this image, open ocean has been masked off using the NSCAT sea extent algorithm.
	Global Image (NSCAT) A full global image as produced from NSCAT data is (b/w gif 402K) (color gif 383K) . The brightest regions are glacial ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica as described above. For other regions, the brightness of the image is related to the vegetation cover and soil moisture. Tropical rainforests along the equator in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia are relatively bright while desert regions are dark. Very dry, sandy deserts show up as black in this image. Some examples are the Empty Quarter in Saudia Arbia, the Gobi desert in Western China, and the great erg (sand dune) seas in Sahara desert in North Africa. The light area just below the wide, dark band in Africa is known as the Sahel. This area lightens and darkens with the changing season and drought conditions in Africa. The seasonal radar response of the Sahel is thought to be a sensitive indicator of desertification due to global warming and climate change. Global data images and browse producuts are available for QuikSCAT and other sensors.
	Tropical Rainforest (NSCAT) Tropical rainforests are critical to the climate health of the world and are thought to contain 1/2 of all the world's species. Figure 4 [hires b/w gif 523K] [lores b/w gif 99K] [color gif 492K) shows the Amazon rainforest over South America as observed by NSCAT. Because the radar response is sensitive to the type and density of vegetation, the scatterometer data can provide information useful for discriminating and mapping vegetation. A false color image helps discriminate general areas of tropical rainforest (blues and purples) from woodlands and savannah (greens and yellows). Mountains and degraded farm lands show up as black. [Note: this particular image is not a classification image.] The NSCAT data is able to delineate the extent of the tropical rainforest.
	Tropical Rainforest (TRMM PR) The Tropical Rain Mapping Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) was designed to measure the vertical profile of rain at Ku-band. [full res TRMM PR image 6MB] TRMM PR also made measurements of the surface backscatter at incidence angles of 0 to 20 deg. At this low incidence angle, below-canopy water shows up more readily than at mid and high incidence angles (compare NSCAT image above), which is collected at 40 deg. TRMM PR measurements are also useful for studying deserts.
	Greenland Radar (SASS and ERS-1) Seasonal melting has a dramatic effect on radar backscatter which is different at different frequencies. This image illustrates the variation in radar backscatter at 40 deg incidence angle at Ku-band (SASS) and C-band (ERS-1). Significant melting along the periphery of the Greenland ice sheet results in reduced backscatter during melt. Once refrozen, however, the area has enhanced backscatter due to volume backscattering from subsurface ice structures. These Greenland images are made with enhanced resolution processing.

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