Validation of a Dual-polarization SAR Storm Observation Model

Within the past few years, several X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites have been launched and more are planned. While the primary SAR application is surface monitoring, and they are heralded as "all weather" systems, strong precipitation induces significant propagation and backscatter effects in the data even at frequencies near C-band. Characterization of propagation effects and viewing geometry are developed to gain knowledge on exactly how precipitation impacts SAR imagery. This is accomplished by simulating storms in SAR data starting from real measurements of a storm by ground-based polarimetric radar. In addition, real storm observations by current SAR platforms are also quantitatively analyzed by comparison to theoretical results using simultaneous acquisitions by ground radars. Using simultaneous observations by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) COSMO-SkyMed X-band SAR and a C-band polarimetric weather radar operated by Arpa Piemonte on June 29, 2010 the model can be validated and analyzed.