Applications of the EOS SAR to monitoring global change

The SAR employed by NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) is a multifrequency multipolarization radar which can conduct global monitoring of geophysical and biophysical parameters. The present discussion of the EOS SAR's role in global monitoring emphasizes geophysical product variables applicable to global hydrologic, biogeochemical, and energy cycle models. EOS SAR products encompass biomass, wetland areas, and phenologic and environmental states, in the field of ecosystem dynamics; soil moisture, snow moisture and extent, and glacier and ice sheet extent and velocity, in hydrologic cycle studies; surface-wave fields and sea ice properties, in ocean/atmosphere circulation; and the topography, erosion, and land forms of the solid earth.