Measurements and Applications
All-weather images of ocean, ice and land surfaces. Used for monitoring of coastal zones, polar ice, sea ice, sea state, geological features, vegetation and land surface processes.
Full Name
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band
Status
Operational
Instrument Agencies
Maturity
High Heritage - Operational
Instrument Type
Imaging microwave radars 
Geometry
Side-looking
Instrument Technology
Imaging radar (SAR)
Sampling
Imaging
Data Access
Constrained Access
Data Format
Image Products in a format that uses GeoTIFF for imagery and XML for metadata, or NITF for imagery and metadata.
Resolution
Spotlight: 5 - 2 x 0.8 m (1 look); Ultra-Fine: 5 - 2 x 3 m (1 look); Wide Ultra-Fine: 3 - 2 x 3 m (1 look); Multi-Look Fine/Wide MLF: 11 - 7 x 8 m (4 looks); Extra-Fine: 8 - 4 x 5 m (1 look) to 24 -12 x 24 m (28 looks); Fine: 10 - 7 x 8 m (1 look); Wide Fine: 15 - 7 x 8 m (1 look); Standard: 27 - 17 x 25 m (4 looks); Wide: 40 - 19 x 25 m (4 looks); Extended (H/L): 18 - 16 x 25 m / 53 - 23 x 25 m (4 looks); Fine Quad-Pol: 17 - 7 x 8 m (1 look); Wide Fine Quad-Pol: 17 - 8 x 8 m (1 look); Standard Quad-Pol: 29 - 18 x 8 m (1 look); Wide Standard Quad-Pol: 30 - 17 x 8 m (1 look); ScanSAR (N/W): 81 - 38 x 40 - 70 m / 163 - 73 x 78 - 106 m (4/8 looks); Ship Detection: 33 - 23 x 19 - 77 m (5 looks); Ocean Surveillance: 80 - 36 x 27 - 99 m (4 looks).
[Best Resolution: 0.8m]
Swath
Spotlight: 18 km [8 km along-track]; Ultra-Fine: 20 km; Wide Ultra-Fine: 50 km; Multi-Look Fine/Wide MLF: 50/90 km; Extra-Fine: 125 km; Fine: 50 km; Wide Fine: 150 km; Standard: 100 km; Wide: 150 km; Extended (H/L): 75/170 km; Fine Quad-Pol: 25 km; Wide Fine Quad-Pol: 50 km; Standard Quad-Pol: 25 km; Wide Standard Quad-Pol: 50 km; ScanSAR (N/W): 300/500 km; Ship Detection: 450 km; Ocean Surveillance: 500 km.
[Max Swath: 500 km]
Accuracy
Relative Radiometric Accuracy (within a 100 km scene): <1 dB
Waveband
Microwave: C band 5.405 GHz. HH, VV, HV, VH polarization - includes Quad polarization imaging modes.
| MW (~0.1 cm - ~100 cm) |
| C-Band (8 - 4 GHz) |
RADARSAT-2 - RADARSAT-2 (2007 - 2026) |