Airborne interferometric SAR results from mountainous and glacial terrain

In February 1992, the CCRS Interferometric SAR (CCRS C-InSAR system) was flown over a region in the Canadian Rockies. The test site covered part of the Kananaskis Valley and the Spray Lakes Reservoir and included terrain relief changes of over 1500 metres. The test site was imaged from the 4 cardinal points of the compass, however, the relief changes were so extreme that it was not possible to fill in every gap in the derived digital terrain model caused by layover and radar shadow. The DEM results have been checked by comparing the consistency of the results from opposing passes, by comparison with results generated from aerial stereo photography, and by comparison with GPS ground survey sites. It will be shown that the consistency of results from opposing passes is good and the implied system accuracy compares favourably with that obtained by comparison with the reference DEM and ground survey points. Deriving terrain elevation from Arctic glacier covered terrain using aerial stereo photography is difficult because of weather and flight requirements, coupled with the difficulty of identifying tie points in photography of terrain which is snow covered much of the year. To test InSAR's ability to map glacial terrain, the CCRS system was flown over a mountainous test site (with over 1600 metres relief change) on Bylot island in the Canadian Arctic. The test has confirmed the suitability of radar interferometric techniques for this type of terrain. Initial results are shown.<<ETX>>