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1995-02-23
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109
TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
PHOTO CAPTION P-43899
April 15, 1994
Galapagos L-band, HH
This is an image showing part of Isla Isabella in the
western Galapagos Islands. It was taken by the L-band radar in
HH polarization from the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-Band
Synthetic Aperture Radar on the 40th orbit of the space shuttle
Endeavour. The image is centered at about 0.5 degree south
latitude and 91 degrees west longitude and covers an area of 75
by 60 kilometers (47 by 37 miles). The radar incidence angle at
the center of the image is about 20 degrees.
The western Galapagos Islands, which lie about 1,200 kilometers
(750 miles) west of Ecuador in the eastern Pacific, have six
active volcanoes similar to the volcanoes found in Hawaii. Since
the time of Charles Darwin's visit to the area in 1835, there
have been over 60 recorded eruptions on these volcanoes. This
SIR-C/X-SAR image of Alcedo and Sierra Negra volcanoes shows the
rougher lava flows as bright features, while ash deposits and
smooth pahoehoe lava flows appear dark. A small portion of Isla
Fernandina is visible in the extreme upper left corner of the
image.
The Galapagos Islands are one of the SIR-C/X-SAR supersites and
data of this area will be taken several times during the flight
to allow scientists to conduct topographic change studies and to
search for different lava flow types, ash deposits and fault
lines.
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Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-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).
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