Instructors: Gary Oppliger and James Taranik
Course Credits: 3 semester hours, 2 hours of lecture and 3 hours of lab per week
This course reviews the theory and application of aerospace remote sensing imaging radar methods to earth science studies. Imaging radars offer earth scientists a unique and powerful set of methods to study the surface characteristics and topographic form of the crust and oceans, including ice and vegetation cover, over large regions at high spatial resolution. Over the past 30 years, remote sensing imaging radar methods have benefited from numerous conceptual and technological advances that have led to the development of the revolutionary satellite Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture (DInSAR) method. Just one of several imaging radar methods studied in the course, DInSAR is producing important economic and scientific results through monitoring sub-centimeter level crustal deformation related to earthquakes, volcanic intrusion, landslides, groundwater and petroleum production. The course affords students the opportunity and computing resources to apply advanced radar imaging methods, including DInSAR, in their term projects. Contact Dr. Oppliger for more information.
Fall 2003 COURSE SYLLABUS – in PDF or Word updated Aug 18, 2003
Instructors:
Dr. Gary L. Oppliger,
Research Associate Professor
Arthur Brant Laboratory for Exploration Geophysics
Laxalt Mineral Engineering, RM 304
784-7056, Email:
oppliger@mines.unr.edu
web:
http://www.unr.edu/mines/able/People/Oppliger/
Dr. James V. Taranik, MSM Acting Dean,
Regents Professor, Arthur
Brant Chair of Geophysics
MSM Building Deans Office
E-mail: jtaranik@mines.unr.edu , jvtaranik@cs.com
web: http://www.unr.edu/mines/able/People/Taranik/JTaranik.htm
Please make appointments by e-mail.
Classroom: LMR 356A (note room is different from class schedule)
Laboratory: Arthur Brant Laboratory for Exploration Geophysics, LMR 360
Times: Lecture; 1:00 – 1:50 hrs, MW. Lab; days and hours by arrangement.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course reviews fundamental principles of aerospace remote sensing in the microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Students learn how the energy-path concept provides a model for understanding the properties of the sources of microwave electromagnetic radiation and the transmitting media. Concepts of frequency, wavelength and phase are learned and the properties of microwave energy are understood by students. Students learn the phenomenology of atmospheric effects to develop an understanding of the impact of atmospheric scattering, absorption, polarization, and ionospheric and tropospheric decorrelation on microwave energy propagated to and received from the Earth’s surface.
Students learn radar system parameters including: Earth curvature, orbit characteristics, the Radar Equation, definitions, radar operation, phase noise, polarization, radar resolution, illumination geometry and landscape geometry, image geometry and inherent distortions, and speckle in radar imagery. Environmental and target parameters learned include: concepts of roughness, geometry of targets, resonance, dielectric constant, surface and volume scattering, signal penetration and signal enhancement. Interpretation techniques, procedures and aids are reviewed, including: interpretation keys, merged radar sets, multifrequency-multipolarization radar analysis, filters and enhancements, manual versus computer assisted interpretation.
Students learn basic radargrammetry including: basic radargrammetry equations, projection equations, relief displacement, matching radar images and digital terrain models, geometric rectification, stereoscopic radar analysis, and parallax radargrammetry. Students learn concepts and applications of radar polarimetry including: polarimetry in nature, basic equations of radar polarimetry, antenna concepts, target concepts, optimum polarization for maximum power, co-polarization and cross-polarization, and geoscience applications of radar polarimetry.
Students learn concepts of imaging radar interferometry including: overview of interferometry principles, interferometric topographic mapping, velocity mapping, change mapping and geoscience applications, including earthquake hazard and event analysis, volcanic hazard detection, glacier and ice movement, landslide and erosion detection, etc. Students construct radar interferograms using the SUN – Solaris 8 radar image processing workstation with JPL ROI_PAC software in the Arthur Brant Laboratory for Exploration Geophysics.
Students study the physics of surface scattering, reflection, of microwave EMR by major classes of earth surface materials, with emphasis on the physical and electrical properties of minerals and consolidated rocks, unconsolidated rock-weathering products, soils, and coatings and alteration products that occur with these materials.
Sensor technology is reviewed in terms of microwave physics and antenna technology. Students gain an understanding of the models used to characterize radar backscatter to understand how microwave EMR, measured by airborne and spaceborne radar antennas, is formatted to data. Concepts of radiometric and geometric adjustments to microwave data are applied by students. Spaceborne radar systems are reviewed including: SEASAT-A, SIR-A, SIR-B and SIR-C/X-SAR, Kosmos, Almaz, ERS-1 and ERS-2, J-ERS-1, and RADARSAT. Aircraft radar systems are reviewed including: AirSAR, C/X SAR, E-SAR and STAR-1.
Students learn how to conduct ground-based field and laboratory studies of common rock materials and their associated rock alteration products to develop an appreciation of the microwave attributes of natural resource types measured with aerospace remote sensing techniques. Microwave data analysis techniques are introduced over known geology in the Great Basin. The cost-effectiveness of radar imagery is compared to optical imagery and thermal imagery for natural resources investigations..
COURSE EMPHASIS
Course Notebook: 15%, constitutes the textbook for the course.
Mid-Term Examination: 15%, a take-home examination, open book, open notes.
Term Project: 30%
Oral Presentation on term project: 15%
Final Examination: 25%, closed book 2 hour exam.
COURSE NOTEBOOK
This course has no course textbook, however students are expected to develop their own course textbook through lecture notes taken in class, notes taken from assigned readings and notes taken from reference materials that students wish to include on their own initiative. Please do not just copy references from this course for your notebook! Your interpretations of the key points in these references are what should constitute most of your notebook. An important part of the notebook is a comprehensive list of references, appropriate to each major subject, and including references you may find beyond those assigned during class. The notebook will be professionally prepared, including carefully illustrated diagrams. It will be appropriately footnoted to acknowledge sources of information, and it will be organized in a three-ring binder. These notebooks will be graded for completeness and neatness. Notebooks submitted by students may be retained by the instructor and the information contained in the notebooks will not be subject to copyright by the student. The instructor reserves the right to use materials from the submitted notebooks for future classes. Some of the material in the submitted course notebooks may be placed, in condensed form, on the World Wide Web for the use of all students.
TERM PROJECT
The term project will involve student laboratory research on characterizing geoscience problems in terms of the kinds of microwave attributes that can be detected and mapped with aerospace remote sensing data. Students in the class are encouraged work as a team to acquire radar image data, over a geological problem area for analysis with ENVI, ER-Mapper and/or JPL ROI-PAC software. Term projects must be approved by the instructor and should be arranged during the first week or two of instruction.
We have developed a technique for documenting the steps students might utilize in computer analysis of remote sensing data in their term projects. This documentation takes the form of saving the computer screen showing the procedures used. This type of documentation should be utilized in an appendix at the end of the report. Powerpoint illustrations and image data acquired and processed in the course of the term project should be provided to the instructor in the form of a CD-ROM, or 100 MB ZIP Disk as appropriate. Large data sets may have to be archived on our Peerless 20GB removable drives. Students are encouraged to consider publishing their term reports after suitable peer review. The instructor will be pleased to assist in any publication effort.
The methodology for term projects will take the form of (1) definition of a project, (2) identification of suitable data and development of a general outline to be submitted to the instructor for his review, (3) expansion of the project outline, with key references noted, after project work is underway (graded), (4) preliminary results and findings submitting as a topic sentence outline for the proposed project report. The topic sentence outline and bibliography will be evaluated for completeness and they will be graded. The final report is due typewritten, in professional style on the last day of the course. Late reports will be downgraded accordingly. Incompletes are strongly discouraged and must be adjudicated with the instructor.
ORAL REPORT
The oral report will be a professionally prepared talk that uses “MS Powerpoint” for original figures and diagrams. Figures and diagrams from reference sources must be carefully documented. The oral report will be presented as a 20 minute presentation with 5 minutes for questions and answers, in a manner similar to that in a professional association meeting. The class will participate in the evaluation of the presentation, in terms of its organization, style and content. These talks are designed to improve student communication skills and to prepare students for professional life. The oral reports will be given at the end of the course and students may invite guests to attend.
Southern Californa Riverside Region
1999 04 27 - 2000 11 27 ERS2 InSAR
2.8 cm phase fringes on shaded-dem
processes by radar class Nov 03.
(click image to view 500kb jpg)
Lab Guide 1.3 (update Sept 15, 03)
Lab Data FTP (new Nov 18, 03)