P-47974 October 24, 1996
This spaceborne radar image shows mountains and valleys in the
arid landscape of central Australia. The mountains are part of
the MacDonnell Ranges in the Northern Territory
of Australia, just west of the town of Alice Springs. The
prominent linear and curving bands are outcrops of sedimentary
rocks that have been folded and tilted during ancient episodes of
mountain building. These rock layers provide traps for natural
gas, which is currently being extracted from this area for
commercial use. The dark brown and blue area in the center of
the image is a broad valley covered with recent gravel sediments
and grasses. The Finke River cuts across the mountain ridge in
the upper right, and continues in a deep canyon in the lower
center of the image. Above and to the left of the river canyon
is a broad oval-shaped valley with blue patches. This is Palm
Valley, which contains rare species of palms, some of which can
be traced back, virtually unchanged, in the fossil record more
than 50 million years. Scientists are using radar data of this
region in studies of oil and gas exploration, landscape and soil
evolution, and plant ecology.
In a joint program between NASA and several South Pacific and
Asian countries including Australia, high resolution radar images
and topography data are to be collected by JPL's Airborne
Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) onboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft in
the fall of 1996 to give scientists a more detailed view of the
region. This image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-
C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR)
onboard the space shuttle Endeavour on April 13, 1994. The image
is 90.4 kilometers by 59.8 kilometers (56 miles by 37.1 miles)
and is centered at 24 degrees south latitude,
132.7 degrees east longitude. North is toward the upper right.
The colors are assigned to different radar frequencies and
polarizations of the radar as follows: red is L-band,
horizontally transmitted and received; green is C-band,
horizontally transmitted, vertically received; and blue is the
ratio of C-band to L-band, both horizontally transmitted and
received. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian and
United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet
Earth program.
For a full-resolution (26 Megabyte) copy of this image, press
here
For a browse resolution (286 Kilobyte) copy of this image, press
here
Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations, and data processing of X-SAR.
Last Modified: 07/14/00
CSR/TSGC Team Web
