UAVSAR L1 Radar Stack for Wetland Water Level Monitoring

NASA's UAVSAR L1 Single Look Complex stack products contain polarimetric L-band radar data collected during the Delta-X campaign over Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin in spring and fall 2021. The dataset provides repeat-pass interferometric time series with 30-minute sampling intervals across HH, HV, VH, and VV polarizations, serving as the foundational data for deriving water level changes in wetlands. Data quality was validated against in-situ water level gauges deployed throughout the Mississippi River Delta floodplain.

Use Cases

• Generating time-series maps of water elevation changes in coastal wetlands using repeat-pass InSAR techniques on the co-registered SLC stacks.
• Analyzing polarimetric backscatter (HH, HV, VH, VV) to characterize wetland vegetation structure and its interaction with water levels.
• Validating hydrological models by comparing radar-derived water level estimates with data from in-situ gauge measurements.
• Studying land subsidence and surface deformation in deltaic environments using the provided latitude, longitude, and height (LLH) files.

Strengths

• Data quality was assessed via comparison with in-situ water level gauges throughout the study area.
• Provides full polarimetric L-band SAR data (HH, HV, VH, VV) for detailed backscatter analysis.
• Contains co-registered time series data with approximately 30-minute sampling intervals for temporal analysis.

Limitations

• The SLCs are not corrected for residual baseline (BU), requiring user processing for precise interferometry.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist across platforms (2026-03-13 vs. 2021-09-13).
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed column names are not provided in the source metadata.

Provenance

Source

NASA UAVSAR instrument flown on the Gulfstream-III aircraft as part of the Delta-X campaign.

Collection Method

Airborne synthetic aperture radar data collection, processed into Single Look Complex stacks by the UAVSAR processing team.

Time Range

2021-03 27 to 2021-04-18 and 2021-09-03 to 2021-09-13

Freshness

2026-03-13 03:09:55.368351

Geography

Atchafalaya Basin, Southern Louisiana, USA, within the Mississippi River Delta floodplain.