Project Proposal (Restrained)

1. Go to the ESA User Services Portal
2. Register or log in to EO Sign In
3. After logging in, complete and submit the form with your proposed use of the data
4. The proposal will be evaluated by ESA, which normally takes between 4 and 6 weeks
5. Upon successful evaluation, you will receive a confirmation email, which describes the amount of data to be provided, and details of how to order the data.

The collection is open for research and application development, prototype and test projects to users located in the territory of ESA Member States and ESA Cooperating/Associate States and Africa.

Data are available to order on demand upon submission of a Project Proposal subject to evaluation and acceptance by ESA.

ESA will support as many high-quality and innovative projects as possible within the quota limit available, therefore only a limited amount of products can be allowed to each project.

The products are available as part of the MDA provision from RADARSAT missions with worldwide coverage: the EODMS catalogue can be accessed (registration required only for ordering) to discover and check the data readiness.

All details about data provision and availability, data access conditions, usage restrictions and the quota assignment procedure are described in the Terms of Applicability document available in the Resources section.

If you need help with the proposal form, consult this guide on how to access data requiring a project proposal.

For further information about the EO Sign In Service you can visit TellUs.

Should you need support to prepare your proposal or access the data, please contact EOHelp.

RADARSAT-1 products

The Standard beam mode operates with any one of seven beam positions, referred to as S1 to S7. The nominal incidence angle range covered by the full set of Standard beams is from 20 degrees (at the inner edge of S1) to 49 degrees (at the outer edge of S7). Each individual beam covers a minimum ground swath of 100 km within the total 500 km accessibility swath of the full set of Standard beams. The nominal spatial resolution in the range direction is 26 m for S1 at near range to 20 m for S7 at far range. The nominal azimuth resolution is the same, 27 m, for all beam positions.

The Wide beam modes are similar to the Standard beams except that the swath width achieved by this beam is 150 km rather than 100 km. As a result, only three Wide beams, W1, W2 and W3 are necessary to provide coverage of almost all of the 500 km swath range. They provide comparable resolution to the standard beam mode, though the increased ground swath coverage is obtained at the expense of a slight reduction in overall image quality.

In the Fine beam mode the nominal azimuth resolution is 8.4 m, with range resolution 9.1 m to 7.8 m from F1 to F5. Since the radar operates with a higher sampling rate in this mode than in any of the other beam mode, the ground swath coverage has to be reduced to approximately 50 km in order to keep the downlink signal within its allocated bandwidth. Originally, five Fine beam positions, F1 to F5, were available to cover the far range of the swath with an incidence angle range from 37 to 47 degrees. By modifying timing parameters, 10 new positions have been added with offset ground coverage. Each original Fine beam position can either be shifted closer to or further away from Nadir.

In Extended High beam mode six positions, EH1 to EH6, are available for collection of data in the 49 to 60 degree incidence angle range. Since this beam mode operates outside the optimum scan angle range of the SAR antenna, some minor degradation of image quality can be expected when compared with the Standard beam mode. Swath widths are restricted to a nominal 80 km for the inner three positions, and 70 km for the outer three positions.

In Extended Low beam mode one position, EL1, is provided for imaging in the incidence angle range 10 to 23 degrees with nominal ground swath coverage of 170 km. As with the Extended High beam mode, some minor degradation of image quality can be expected due to operation of the antenna beyond its optimum elevation angle range.

In ScanSAR mode, combinations of two, three or four single beams are used during data collection. Each beam is selected sequentially so that data is collected from a wider swath than possible with a single beam. The beam switching rates are chosen to ensure at least one "look" at the Earth's surface for each beam within the along track illumination time or dwell time of the antenna beam. In practice, the radar beam switching is adjusted to provide two looks per beam. The beam multiplexing inherent in ScanSAR operation reduces the effective sampling rate within each of the component beams; hence the increased swath coverage is obtained at the expense of spatial resolution. The ScanSAR Narrow mode combines two beams (incidence angle range of 20 to 39 degrees) or three beams (incidence angle from 31 to 46 degrees) and provides coverage of a nominal 300 km ground swath, with spatial resolution of 50 m. The ScanSAR Wide mode combines four beams, provides coverage of either 500 km (with incidence angle range of 20 to 49 degrees) or 450 km (incidence angle range from 20 to 46 degrees) nominal ground swaths depending on the beam combination.

RADARSAT-2 products

The Standard Beam Mode allows imaging over a wide range of incidence angles with a set of image quality characteristics which provides a balance between fine resolution and wide coverage, and between spatial and radiometric resolutions. Standard Beam Mode operates with any one of eight beams, referred to as S1 to S8. The nominal incidence angle range covered by the full set of beams is 20 degrees (at the inner edge of S1) to 52 degrees (at the outer edge of S8). Each individual beam covers a nominal ground swath of 100 km within the total standard beam accessibility swath of more than 500 km.

The Wide Swath Beam Mode allows imaging of wider swaths than Standard Beam Mode, but at the expense of slightly coarser spatial resolution. The three Wide Swath beams, W1, W2 and W3, provide coverage of swaths of approximately 170 km, 150 km and 130 km in width respectively, and collectively span a total incidence angle range from 20 degrees to 45 degrees.

The Fine Resolution Beam Mode is intended for applications which require finer spatial resolution. Products from this beam mode have a nominal ground swath of 50 km. Nine Fine Resolution physical beams, F23 to F21, and F1 to F6 are available to cover the incidence angle range from 30 to 50 degrees. For each of these beams, the swath can optionally be centred with respect to the physical beam or it can be shifted slightly to the near or far range side. Thanks to these additional swath positioning choices, overlaps of more than 50% are provided between adjacent swaths.

In the Extended Low Incidence Beam Mode, a single Extended Low Incidence Beam, EL1, is provided for imaging in the incidence angle range from 10 to 23 degrees with a nominal ground swath coverage of 170 km. Some minor degradation of image quality can be expected due to operation of the antenna beyond its optimum scan angle range.

In the Extended High Incidence Beam Mode, six Extended High Incidence Beams, EH1 to EH6, are available for imaging in the 49 to 60 degree incidence angle range. Since these beams operate outside the optimum scan angle range of the SAR antenna, some degradation of image quality, becoming progressively more severe with increasing incidence angle, can be expected when compared with the Standard Beams. Swath widths are restricted to a nominal 80 km for the inner three beams, and 70 km for the outer beams.

ScanSAR Narrow Beam Mode provides coverage of a ground swath approximately double the width of the Wide Swath Beam Mode swaths. Two swath positions with different combinations of physical beams can be used: SCNA, which uses physical beams W1 and W2, and SCNB, which uses physical beams W2, S5, and S6. Both options provide coverage of swath widths of about 300 km. The SCNA combination provides coverage over the incidence angle range from 20 to 39 degrees. The SCNB combination provides coverage over the incidence angle range 31 to 47 degrees.

ScanSAR Wide Beam Mode provides coverage of a ground swath approximately triple the width of the Wide Swath Beam Mode swaths. Two swath positions with different combinations of physical beams can be used: SCWA, which uses physical beams W1, W2, W3, and S7, and SCWB, which uses physical beams W1, W2, S5 and S6. The SCWA combination allows imaging of a swath of more than 500 km covering an incidence angle range of 20 to 49 degrees. The SCWB combination allows imaging of a swath of more than 450 km covering the incidence angle.

In the Standard Quad Polarization Beam Mode, the radar transmits pulses alternately in horizontal (H) and vertical (V) polarisations, and receives the return signals from each pulse in both H and V polarisations separately but simultaneously. This beam mode therefore enables full polarimetric (HH+VV+HV+VH) image products to be generated. The Standard Quad Polarization Beam Mode operates with the same pulse bandwidths as the Standard Beam Mode. Products with swath widths of approximately 25 km can be obtained covering any area within the region from an incidence angle of 18 degrees to at least 49 degrees.

The Wide Standard Quad Polarization Beam Mode operates the same way as the Standard Quad Polarization Beam Mode but with higher data acquisition rates, and offers wider swaths of approximately 50 km at equivalent spatial resolution. 21 beams are available covering any area from 18 degrees to 42 degrees, ensuring overlaps of about 50% between adjacent swaths.

The Fine Quad Polarization Beam Mode provides full polarimetric imaging with the same spatial resolution as the Fine Resolution Beam Mode. Fine Quad Polarization Beam Mode products with swath widths of approximately 25 km can be obtained covering any area within the region from an incidence angle of 18 degrees to at least 49 degrees.

The Wide Fine Quad Polarization Beam Mode operates the same way as the Fine Quad Polarization Beam Mode but with higher data acquisition rates, and offers a wider swath of approximately 50 km at equivalent spatial resolution. 21 beams are available covering any area from 18 degrees to 42 degrees, ensuring overlaps of about 50% between adjacent swaths.

The Multi-Look Fine Resolution Beam Mode covers the same swaths as the Fine Resolution Beam Mode. Products with multiple looks in range and azimuth are generated at approximately the same spatial resolution as Fine Resolution Beam mode products, but with multiple looks and therefore improved radiometric resolution. Single look products are generated at finer spatial resolutions than Fine Resolution Beam Mode products. In order to obtain the multiple looks without a reduction in swath width, this beam mode operates with higher data acquisition rates and noise levels than Fine Resolution Beam Mode. As with the Fine Resolution Beam Mode, nine physical beams are available to cover the incidence angle range from 30 to 50 degrees, and additional near and/or far range swath positioning choices are available to provide additional overlap.

The Wide Multi-Look Fine Resolution Beam Mode offers a wider coverage alternative to the regular Multi-Look Fine Beam Mode, while preserving the same spatial and radiometric resolution, but at the expense of higher data compression ratios (which leads to higher signal-dependent noise levels). The nominal swath width is 90 km compared to 50 km for the Multi-Look Fine Beam Mode. The nine physical beams are the same as in the Multi-Look Fine Beam Mode, covering incidence angles from approximately 30 to 50 degrees, but the additional near and far range swath positioning choices available in the Multi-Look Fine Beam Mode are not needed because the beam centered swaths are wide enough to overlap by more than 50%.

The Ultra-Fine Resolution Beam Mode is intended for applications which require very high spatial resolution. The set of Ultra-Fine Resolution Beams cover any area within the incidence angle range from 20 to 50 degrees (soon to be extended to 54 degrees). Each beam within the set images a swath width of at least 20 km.

The Wide Ultra-Fine Resolution Beam Mode provides the same spatial resolution as the Ultra-Fine mode as well as wider coverage, but at the expense of higher data compression ratios (which leads to higher signal-dependent noise levels). The set of Wide Ultra-Fine Resolution Beams cover any area within the incidence angle range from 30 to 50 degrees. Each beam within the set images a swath width of approximately 50 km.

The Wide Fine Resolution Beam Mode is intended for applications which require both a finer spatial resolution and a wide swath. Products from this beam mode have a nominal ground swath equivalent to the ones offered by the Wide Swath Beam Mode (170 km, 150 km and 120 km) and a spatial resolution equivalent to the ones offered by the Fine Resolution Beam Mode, at the expense of somewhat higher noise levels. Three Wide Fine Resolution beam positions, F0W1 to F0W3 are available to cover the incidence angle range from 20 to 45 degrees.

The Extra-Fine Resolution Beam Mode nominally provides similar swath width and incidence angle coverage as the Wide Fine Beam Mode, at even finer resolutions, but with higher data compression ratios and noise levels. The four Extra-Fine beams provide coverage of swaths of approximately 160 km, 124 km, 120 km and 108 km in width respectively, and collectively span a total incidence angle range from 22 to 49 degrees. This beam mode also offers additional optional processing parameter selections that allow for reduced-bandwidth single-look products, 4-look, and 28-look products.

In Spotlight Beam Mode, the beam is steered electronically in order to dwell on the area of interest over longer aperture times, which allows products to be processed to finer azimuth resolution than in other modes. Unlike in other modes, Spotlight images are of fixed size in the along track direction. The set of Spotlight beams cover any area within the incidence angle range from 20 to 50 degrees (soon to be extended to 54 degrees). Each beam within the set images a swath width of at least 18 km.

These are the different products :

• SLC (Single Look Complex): Amplitude and phase information is preserved. Data is in slant range. Georeferenced and aligned with the satellite track
• SGF (Path Image): Data is converted to ground range and may be multi-look processed. Scene is oriented in direction of orbit path. Georeferenced and aligned with the satellite track.
• SGX (Path Image Plus): Same as SGF except processed with refined pixel spacing as needed to fully encompass the image data bandwidths. Georeferenced and aligned with the satellite track
• SSG (Map Image): Image is geocorrected to a map projection.
• SPG (Precision Map Image): Image is geocorrected to a map projection. Ground control points (GCP) are used to improve positional accuracy.
• SCN (ScanSAR Narrow)/SCF(ScanSAR Wide) : ScanSAR Narrow/Wide beam mode product with original processing options and metadata fields (for backwards compatibility only). Georeferenced and aligned with the satellite track
• SCF (ScanSAR Fine): ScanSAR product equivalent to SGF with additional processing options and metadata fields. Georeferenced and aligned with the satellite track
• SCS (ScanSAR Sampled) : Same as SCF except with finer sampling. Georeferenced and aligned with the satellite track.