AirSWOT Radar Elevation Data for Arctic Surface Waters
Updated 1mo ago
7filesBIN
Available on 2 platforms
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Description
AirSWOT Ka-band radar data maps the elevation and extent of rivers, lakes, ponds, and wetlands across Alaska and Canada. Collected from an airborne platform in July-August 2017, this dataset provides six products including water surface elevation, backscatter magnitude, and coherence at a 3.6 m² resolution. The flight lines were strategically designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to sample a full spectrum of permafrost conditions and ecosystems within the ABoVE domain.
Use Cases
Calibrating and validating future SWOT satellite measurements of terrestrial surface water height.
Modeling changes in water storage and extent in lakes and rivers due to permafrost thaw.
Analyzing radar backscatter (magnitude) and coherence over diverse Arctic and Boreal water bodies.
Investigating the relationship between water surface elevation (DHDPHI product) and local topographic relief across different geological substrates.
Mapping the distribution and characteristics of wetlands and ponds across climatic and permafrost gradients.
Strengths
Provides six specific radar-derived data layers, including elevation, incidence angle, and estimated error.
Covers a strategically selected gradient of permafrost conditions from continuous to permafrost-free.
Offers data at a high spatial resolution of 3.6 m² in both original UTM and ABoVE-projected formats.
Limitations
Conflicting 'last updated' metadata: one source states 2017-08-17, another states 2026-03 13.
No column names, row counts, or dataset size information are provided by any source.
Data is limited to a specific six-week airborne campaign in the summer of 2017.
Collected by an airborne Ka-band (35.75 GHz) radar platform targeting surface water features.
Time Range
2017-07-09 to 2017-08-17
Freshness
2026 -03-13 19:00:46.859333
Geography
Parts of Alaska and Canada within the ABoVE (Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment) domain.
License is listed as 'other-license-specified'; users must check the specific terms. Data products are provided as 'outer-swath products only' in the original form.