In preparation for the Central/South America deployment in mid-March, we are compiling a collection of scientific significance briefs based on UAVSAR data acquired in prior years.  Here is one from Dr. Kyle McDonald of the City College of New York that utilized UAVSAR data to image active and dormant river and stream channels in the Amazon basin that helped shape the evolution of plant and animal species in this mega-diverse ecosystem.  This technic is directly applicable to space-based radar missions such as NISAR and Japan’s ALOS-II missions. 

We are embarking on the month-long Central/South America deployment on Wednesday, 3/11/15.  We will have 21 flights (19 science sorties and 2 transit flights) over 33 days imaging 11 countries where 90% of the flight hours are associated with volcano studies and the remaining hours include wetlands, ecology, archaeology, and cross-calibration with the Argentinian airborne synthetic aperture radar system.  Attached is an overview of the deployment schedule and locations.

The first week of our Central/South America deployment has been full of excitement both from the scientific and logistic standpoints.  We’ve successfully conducted 5 science flights, imaging volcanoes in Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador as well as the Panama Canal Watershed.  

During the second week of our Central/South America deployment, we conducted 4 science flights where we imaged volcanoes in the Galapagos and the Andes in Ecuador, Peru, and Northern Chile.  We also imaged coastal wetlands in Ecuador as well as Nazca lines, a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru.

We have had some unexpected excitement in Antofagasta, Chile last week.  Heavy rains in Chile’s Atacama Desert region last Tuesday/Wednesday caused flash floods, major power and communication outages, as well as airport closure.  We had to scrub two local flights out of Antofagasta due to air traffic disruption and headed to Santiago a day early to regroup.  In addition, we were not able to secure Bolivia flight clearance to image Bolivia without a Bolivian observer onboard the aircraft.

We are taking a breather from flight operations while we process the data acquired during the month-long Central and South America deployment that was completed on April 12.  So far we have already released 141 polarimetric data sets of the 146 science data takes acquired.  We have also begun to generate the post-processed differential GPS solutions in preparation for repeat-pass interferometry processing.  Next week we will resume science flights based out of Palmdale prior to the week-long Louisiana Gulf Coast deployment in early May.

The L-band radar aboard the AFRC G-III has embarked on a week-long deployment to the Louisiana Gulf Coast for coastal subsidence monitoring and a joint campaign with the AirSWOT radar at the Wax Lake Delta.  Scientists from JPL together with hydrologists from UT Austin and Rice University as well as ecologists from Louisiana State University have planned the Wax Lake Delta experiment to study sediment transport and delta formation.

The L-band radar aboard the AFRC G-III has successfully completed the week-long deployment to the Louisiana Gulf Coast for a combined AirSWOT, UAVSAR, and AVIRIS-NG experiment in Wax Lake Delta.  In all, UAVSAR had 3 science acquisitions at low tide, rising tide, and high tide conditions, respectively.  Weather cooperated, and we managed to avoid rain during our stay in New Orleans.  Attached is a summary of the Wax Lake Delta experiment.  This week we have four local flights for San Andreas Fault monitoring and Sacramento Delta levee study, respectively.  Next week, we will depart for a 3-

We completed one calibration flight and two science flights to Mexico for earthquake fault monitoring last week.  This week we have two flights on the calendar, one science flight to monitor Sacramento Delta levees and an engineering flight to test experimental modes (time permitting).  The Central/South America deployment is scheduled to begin on March 11 (Wednesday) pending the close out of the following outstanding issues: aircraft maintenance, flight track tube performance, open flight requests, and diplomatic clearances (received 6 of the 12 countries).

In preparation for the Central/South America deployment in mid-March, we are compiling a collection of scientific significance briefs based on UAVSAR data acquired in prior years. Here is one from Dr. Kyle McDonald of the City College of New York that utilized UAVSAR data to image active and dormant river and stream channels in the Amazon basin that helped shape the evolution of plant and animal species in this mega-diverse ecosystem.  This technic is directly applicable to space-based radar missions such as NISAR and Japan’s ALOS-II missions.