The UK NERC fully portable polarimetric ground-based synthetic aperture radar (GB-SAR)

A novel, fully portable, ground-based polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (GB-SAR) is described. The system is to be used to investigate radar backscatter from soils and vegetation canopies, so providing fundamental support for the use of radar in environmental science applications. A summary of the configuration of the instrument is provided, including detail of the hardware employed in its construction. The data processing procedures are presented, together with a summary of the system operating parameters. Finally, SAR imagery is presented to demonstrate the performance of the instrument in an outdoor environment