Art Meets Radar

Pedro Rodriguez Veiga - University Staff

Satellite radars are active sensors independent of solar illumination, being able to obtain day and night observations of Earth. They can ‘see’ through haze, clouds and smoke.

Radar images are ideal for studying the land cover dynamics of tropical areas such as the Congo Basin, where there are few days a year without cloud cover. Radars are also sensitive to soil moisture. This RGB image is composed of three scenes acquired at different dates. Stable landscape features appear black and greyish, while changes derived from vegetation dynamics, river flow changes, and soil moisture differences appear very colourful.