(SAR) to Support Agricultural Monitoring 2 - Group on Earth ...

International GEO Workshop on <strong>SAR</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Support</strong> <strong>Agricultural</strong> Moni<strong>to</strong>ring
Many of the fac<strong>to</strong>rs are clustered with similar scores, and the lowest score is quite high.
It appears that respondents consider all of these fac<strong>to</strong>rs <strong>to</strong> be important.
Other fac<strong>to</strong>rs that respondents added include the following:
• “Deeper signal band (25-50 cm).”
• “Possibility <strong>to</strong> explore S-band <strong>SAR</strong> for agriculture.”
• “<strong>SAR</strong> satellites should be designed for moni<strong>to</strong>ring, i.e. no mode switching, ideally
100 % duty cycle, large swath width.”
• “We have found that measuring parcel areas with VHR <strong>SAR</strong> data was not
accurate enough for the control of CAP subsidies. As for the check of land cover
and GAEC, more research is probably needed as we have not yet been fully
convinced by the use of <strong>SAR</strong> data for such purposes.”
• “(I am) not in the business of agricultural moni<strong>to</strong>ring but generally speaking there
is a need for the development of "killer" applications. You may have some in
agriculture but there doesn't seem <strong>to</strong> be any at this point in time in forestry with
the currently available technology.”
• “Operational software for various applications.”
• “Ability <strong>to</strong> record forward scatter also.”
• “Availability of the necessary technical training and application projects for
continuity of acquired skills.”
• “I also consider very important the availability of announcements of opportunities
<strong>to</strong> obtain RADAR data for research purposes.”
5.2 Encouraging Greater Use of <strong>SAR</strong> Data through Science
Question 7 asked: “What suggestions do you have <strong>to</strong> encourage greater use of <strong>SAR</strong> data
through science? (Rate each from 1 <strong>to</strong> 5 with 1 being least important and 5 being most
important.” Again, the replies were multiplied by the weighting fac<strong>to</strong>r (1 – 5) and the
results were added for each response. The <strong>to</strong>tals were then sorted <strong>to</strong> show highest scores
first. The result is shown in Table 8. Again, the scores do not show a wide range,
indicating that while there is a ranking in importance, all of the fac<strong>to</strong>rs were considered
important.
Other fac<strong>to</strong>rs that respondents added include the following:
• “Selection of the best <strong>SAR</strong> frequency for each commodity (i.e S-band for rice).”
• “Science must come up with accurate, reliable and transferable geophysical
products.”
• “<strong>SAR</strong> is a complex data product. There needs <strong>to</strong> be development of simple
processes <strong>to</strong> extract information so that it is readily available, reliable, and
understandable <strong>to</strong> users. Visibility of the operational use of these products needs
<strong>to</strong> be marketed.”
• “Assured regular acquisition of <strong>SAR</strong> data.”
• “Greater availability of assured data and software.”
Report on Results: Survey on <strong>SAR</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Support</strong> <strong>Agricultural</strong> Moni<strong>to</strong>ring – Annex 1 26