Capella SAR Radargrammetry Update

In today's PI meeting, Steve Frasier of the remote sensing group at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) presented some new stereo radargrammetry results based on the Capella SAR images of the Hurricane Michael test area. The UMass group has tested a radargrammetry algorithm of the software package SARscape. Initial results look promising and show good agreement with reference heights from the USGS Topobathymetric Digital Elevation Model (TBDEM). However, the SARscape algorithm uses known topographic data from an external dataset as input, together with the stereo SAR images, and it is not clear to what extent the resulting heights are actually derived from the SAR image pair or taken from the input topography. To understand how the algorithm works, Frasier performed additional runs with manipulated versions of the input topography, to which he had added distinct artificial features. He found that the artificial features were clearly visible in the resulting radargrammetry products, indicating that the input topography affects the algorithm output quite strongly. The UMass group will analyze this further and try to find a way to reduce the weight of the input topography in the radargrammetry products.