Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data are incorporated into the Barrow Area Information Database (BAID) in support of science logistics planning and subsistence hunters working on the sea ice along the coast of Barrow, Alaska.

SAR is an active sensor, mounted on both the Canadian Space Agency RADARSAT-1 satellite and the European Remote Sensing Agency ERS-2 satellite. As the sensors orbit the earth, the radar signals are transmitted and then it measures how strongly those signals are scattered back. The SAR sensors can "see" both at night and through clouds. RADARSAT-1 data are in "R" files, ERS data are in "E" files. Each zip file contains documentation in an .xml file.

These images from the Barrow Area Information Database are included as a result of efforts of the Systems Ecology Lab at the University of Texas at El Paso. Access to this data set is restricted. To obtain SAR source data from the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF), users must submit a proposal to NASA for approval. Once a user has been approved to access the data and has required login information, one must use the online search tools for ASF's Data Active Archive Center (DAAC) to locate relevant scenes and to place orders. Please contact uso@asf.alaska.edu