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First space-borne high-spatial-resolution optical imagery of the Antarctic from Formosat-2

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2008

Cheng-Chien Liu ,
Yueh-Cheng Chang ,
Stefani Huang ,
Frank Wu ,
An-Ming Wu ,
Soushi Kato  and
Yasushi Yamaguchi
Cheng-Chien Liu*
Affiliation:
Institute of Satellite Informatics and Earth Environment, National Cheng Kung University, 701 Tainan, Taiwan Department of Earth Sciences, Earth Dynamic System Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, 701 Tainan, Taiwan
Yueh-Cheng Chang
Affiliation:
Institute of Satellite Informatics and Earth Environment, National Cheng Kung University, 701 Tainan, Taiwan
Stefani Huang
Affiliation:
National Space Organization, 8F, 9 Prosperity 1st Road, Science Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu, Taiwan
Frank Wu
Affiliation:
National Space Organization, 8F, 9 Prosperity 1st Road, Science Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu, Taiwan
An-Ming Wu
Affiliation:
National Space Organization, 8F, 9 Prosperity 1st Road, Science Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu, Taiwan
Soushi Kato
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Earth Dynamic System Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, 701 Tainan, Taiwan
Yasushi Yamaguchi
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan
*
*ccliu88@mail.ncku.edu.tw
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Coordinating and collecting satellite data of changing polar environments is one of the prime activities of International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–08 (Rapley et al. 2004). Within this framework, the requirements to obtain spaceborne snapshots of the Polar Regions and key high latitude processes have been prepared by the international cryospheric community under the auspices of the approved IPY project titled the Global Inter-agency IPY Polar Snapshot Year (GIIPSY). Earlier efforts in manoeuvring Radarsat-1 in a special mode provided radar images with a spatial resolution of 30 m over the entirety of Antarctica during September–October 1997 (Jezek et al. 1998). Limited to their altitude (AL), swath (SW) and pointing capability (PC), however, the operation of optical satellites with high-spatial-resolution sensors is generally restricted to certain latitudes. For example, Landsat (AL:705 km/SW:185 km/PC:0°) mission has been able to provide high-spatial-resolution optical imagery only to ~81°N to ~81°S since the 1980s. The coverage is now extended to ~86° by ASTER (AL:705 km/SW:60 km/PC:24°) (Kargel et al. 2005), but there has been no availability of space-borne optical image of the polar regions with a resolution equivalent or higher than Landsat type sensors with latitudes higher than 86°, until the successful operation of Formosat-2 (AL:891 km/SW:24 km/PC: ± 45° across and along track). Equipped with two-axes high torque reaction wheels, Formosat-2 is able to point not only to ± 45° across track, but also to ± 45° along track (Liu et al. 2007). Figure 1 shows the accessible areas (longer lines: along track ± 0°, across track ± 45°; shorter lines: along track ± 0°, across track ± 30°) and the corresponding ground tracks (solid curves) of Formosat-2 in the Polar Regions. Note that the accessible areas would be even greater if the pointing direction is also set to ± 45° along track. The detailed comparison of Formosat-2 with other similar sensors, including the multi-spectral bands and imaging repeat period, can be found in table I in Liu et al. (2007). To support IPY 2007–08, the National Space Organization (NSPO) of Taiwan launched a Polar Imaging Campaign (PIC) in March 2006. Up to September 2007, a total of 1 131 624 km2 in the North Polar Region and a total of 57 408 km2 in the South Polar Region had been imaged by Formosat-2. All Formosat-2 images taken during the NSPO PIC are available from the authors.

Type
Physical Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 20 , Issue 6 , December 2008 , pp. 605 - 606
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2008

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