Observation and Coordination Needs for Current, Near-Future, and Next Generation Earth-Observing SAR Systems

This paper summarizes an evaluation by experts of how coordination of Earth-observing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) missions among the world's space agencies could advance toward game-changing scientific discoveries and fully realizing SAR's practical capability to address many issues facing society. We consider key science disciplines for which spaceborne SAR sensors are routinely used, with an emphasis on SAR imaging instruments. We outline the current state of the science and identify critical information gaps for 10 disciplines: Ice Sheets and Glaciers, Solid Earth Science, Hazards, Forests and Biomass, Wetlands, Agriculture and Crop Monitoring, Soil Moisture, Sea Ice, Permafrost, and Oceans. We provide recommendations on how these gaps can be addressed by coordination of missions currently operating or in development, then look forward to the next decade during which as-yet-unplanned coordinated SAR constellations could be game-changing. We identify synergies and conflicts between the optimal SAR configurations required for individual disciplines to achieve transformational science advancement. Finally, we provide summary recommendations for beneficial coordination that consider SAR-enabled Earth science studies both as a whole and within the context of multiple individual disciplines that have benefited from a common observational strategy. Overall, there are clear benefits that can be derived from coordinated utilization of spaceborne SAR assets based on their individual capabilities and availability, and through coordinated and shared data and observation strategies.