Alaska Satellite Facility - Distributed Active Archive Center

ALOS PALSAR – Documents and Tools

PALSAR

NameDescription
ALOS Data Users Handbook, 2008Overview of the ALOS Project and related technological information on satellites and land systems
ALOS User GuideOverview, products, product format, operations
PALSAR Product FormatDetailed L1.1 and L1.5 product format description
PALSAR Product Format
(a zip file will download)
Detailed L1.0 product format description

Radiometrically Terrain-Corrected (RTC)

NameDescription
RTC Product Guide, 2015 Guide for radiometrically terrain-corrected products.
RTC Product Specification, 2014This product format specification defines standard terrain-corrected products generated at ASF. It contains the definition for the ISO-compliant XML metadata.
RTC ATBD, 2015 Guide for radiometrically terrain-corrected products.

Software Tools

NameDescription
MapReady, ASFTerrain correct, geocode, and apply polarimetric decompositions to multi-pol SAR data​
Convert to Vector, ASFTransform point or scene information to formats compatible with Google Earth, GIS, and more​
Other Software ToolsAccess a variety of tools for viewing, analyzing, and processing radar data​

GIS Platforms

NameDescription
QGIS: open sourceWindows, Mac, Linux, BSD
ArcGIS: commercial softwareWindows, Linux

RTC GeoTIFF products are readily visualized in GIS programs such as ArcGIS or QGIS.

Processors

PALSAR Processor versions used to process data at ASF
Processing DatesProcessor VersionJAXA Calibration Result as of (MM-DD-YYYY)​
April 18, 2007- April 26, 20073.0010-23-2006

3-29-2007
April 27, 2007- March 17, 20084.003-29-2007

9-28-2007
March 18, 2008 - June 12, 20084.039-28-2007
June 13, 2008 - February 3, 20095.009-28-2007
February 4, 2008 - ?5.049-28-2007

7-1-2009
September, 20136.079-6-2011
Optical Processor versions used to process data at ASF
Processing DatesProcessor VersionJAXA Calibration Result as of (MM-DD-YYYY)​
April 18, 2007- April 26, 20073.0010-23-2006

3-29-2007
April 27, 2007- March 30, 20094.013-29-2007

9-28-2007
March 31, 2009 - February 3, 20105.029-28-07

7-1-2009
February 4, 2010 - January 18, 20115.097-1-2009
January 18, 2011 - Present6.037-1-2009