Generating Large-Scale High-Quality SAR Mosaic Datasets: Application to PALSAR Data for Global Monitoring

This paper proposes a mosaicking algorithm to produce large-scale radiometrically and geometrically calibrated Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) datasets as a base for environmental monitoring of terrestrial biospheric and cryospheric changes. Features of the proposed method are thematic inclusion of a) long-strip processing of the SAR data, b) ortho-rectification and slope correction using a digital elevation model, c) suppression of differences in intensity between neighboring strips, and d) preparation of metadata (e.g., dates from launch, local incidence angle, radar shadow, layover, and valid/invalid data) to support dataset interpretation. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band SAR (PALSAR) mosaics for Southeast Asia, Australia, and Africa.