P - R
type: Concept

RAMP
type: Concept
in scheme: projects
definition: The Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMP)is a joint effort of NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The project was conducted collaboratively by the Byrd Polar Research Center, Vexcel Corporation, the Alaska SAR Facility, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with funding from NASA's Pathfinder Program. The project also received valuable assistance from the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. In 1997, the Canadian RADARSAT-1 satellite was rotated in orbit, so that its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) antenna looked south towards Antarctica. This permitted the first high-resolution mapping of the entire continent of Antarctica. In less than three weeks, the satellite acquired a complete coverage of radar image swaths as part of the first Antarctic Mapping Mission (AMM-1). Swath images have been assembled into an image mosaic depicting the entire continent at 25 m resolution. The mosaic provides a detailed look at ice sheet morphology, rock outcrops, research infrastructure, the coastline, and other features of Antarctica, as well as representing calibrated radar backscatter data which may provide insight into climate processes affecting the upper few meters of snow cover. For more information, link to "http://nsidc.org/daac/ramp/" [Summary provided by NSIDC]