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.
On Monday, August 28th, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Scientific Development Squadron (VXS-1) airdropped 18 buoys associated with the Task 3A teams of the NOPP Hurricane Coastal Impacts project in the path of Hurricane Idalia.
At IGARSS 2023 in Pasadena, CA, the PIs of the two Task 2 remote sensing groups of the University of Miami and the University of Massachusetts presented results of their Hurricane Ian studies.
The Deltares team forecasts 2023 hurricane activity for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts, and looks back at predictions for Hurricane Ian.
