TCarta: Capella SAR for Hydro-spatial Applications Alaska
This story map presents TCarta's SAR based hydro-spatial products in Alaska using Capella Space SAR imagery
Background: Why Alaska?
TCarta & Capella SAR initiatives in Alaska
Coastal and hydro-spatial processes/evaluations are often time sensitive and also greatly depend on the local tidal conditions, weather conditions, etc.
In such a case, apart from the known SAR capabilities in hydro-spatial realm , sensors like Capella Space that have sub-daily revisit times over the same geographic area, very high spatial resolution (< 1 m) and most importantly - user based data secure tasking capabilities- make it an efficient way to conduct tidally synced / time sensitive hydro-spatial analysis.
Additionally, in regions like Alaska ( especially the coastal areas) - that have extreme weather conditions, as well as observed impacts of climate change ( increasing temperature, thawing of permafrost, loss of protective sea ice, increased coastal erosion, changes in Alaskan shoreline), utilization of the new age Capella SAR images can be added asset for continuous surveillance, monitoring, and decision making .
Currently , a rich Capella SAR archive of about 3000+ images exists , covering various parts of Alaska (as seen in heat map below)
Heatmap showing Capella's Archive Collection over Alaska
Some of the SAR hydro-spatial products processed and developed at TCarta , using the tide synchronized ( NOAA tides and currents ) Capella Space SAR datasets (both tasked and archived collections), in various coastal areas of Alaska are:
- Temporal Coastal features and Shoreline changes/extraction during High Tide (HT) and Low Tide (LT) events
- High Tide Line (HTL) and Low Tide Line (LTL) shoreline products from single Capella SAR images, as well as mean tidal range SAR images.
A. Coastal Feature Identification from Capella SAR images:
B. SAR based Shoreline Extraction (HWL & LWL) in Alaska from tidally synced Capella SAR images :
Following is a quick look into visuals showing shoreline products extracted at different tidal ranges, from single X-band Capella SAR images (HH polarization), using processing workflow developed by TCarta (seen in figure below).
Example of the TCarta SAR-based shoreline extraction workflow
The Capella SAR images were scheduled for tasking at specific date and time ranges, such that the Capella tasking window (chosen out of the many predicted options) overlapped the predicted tidal activity (High or Low water ranges) on ground.
The results of shoreline extraction are currently being validated with the NOAA Continually updated shoreline product (CUSP) ; additionally attempts are underway for scheduling a synchronized ground validation.
Use and Application: The high resolution (spatial and temporal) HTL and LTL shoreline extractions , when overlaid on navigation charts or other base maps, can be a useful reference for coastal studies- marine/port infrastructure planning etc….
- Shorelines extracted from single images provide a more daily/event specific observation.
- In order to get a more long-term shoreline positioning (considering a mean HT or mean LT range in an area) for reference and planning, a shoreline from a mean/average of SAR images around the same tidal range can be extracted.
Contact us
For business & inquires related to...
- Placing an order for Capella Space SAR imagery: Data Tasking & Acquisition planning and image delivery
- SAR based Hydro-spatial Project Scoping, planning and products
- Any other queries related to our work at TCarta
Reach out to us at +1 (303) 284-6144 or click here to submit a request. A member from our team will get back to you shortly.
