SAR IMAGE PROCESSING

FOR GEOLOGICAL
APPLICATIONS:
A CASE OF ALOS PALSAR
FOR ISINYA AREA IN
KAJIADO COUNTY, KENYA.

By
Martin Nyakinye,
Chief Supt Geologist,
Ministry of Petroleum & Mining,
State Department for Mining,
Kenya
(mnyakinye@yahoo.com/+254718613942)

Kenya Geological Survey: Seminar -1/2021 2/24/2021 1

Presentation:

 Introduction
 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)  ALOS PALSAR processing for
basics geological applications

 ALOS PALSAR  Results and interpretation

 Study area  Conclusion

 Materials and methods

Kenya Geological Survey: Seminar -1/2021 2/24/2021

 INTRODUCTION
RADAR : active remote sensing system, tested over the Isinya area, Kajiado
county
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR):
• The spatial resolution of radar
data is directly related to the ratio
of the sensor wavelength to the
length of the sensor's antenna.
(C-band:10m resolution, ‫ ג‬5cm =
4.25km antenna size)
• A sequence of acquisitions from a
shorter antenna are combined to
simulate a much larger antenna,
thus providing higher resolution
data

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 PALSAR Products: ALOS PALSAR
Product Type Format
ALOS Phased Array
L1.0 Unprocessed/raw type L-band Synthetic
L1.5 Georeferenced amplitude image Aperture Radar

RTC Radiometrically and terrain-corrected geocoded GeoTIFF image

Operated From 2006 to
2011
Technical Specs — Beam Modes: PALSAR was one of three
instruments on the
1. Fine Beam modes:
1. Single polarization (FBS) e.g. HH Advanced Land Observing
2. dual polarization (FBD) e.g. (HH, VV) Satellite-1 (ALOS)
2. Quad polarization/Polarimetric mode (PLR)
(HH,VH,HV,VV)
3. ScanSAR wide beam (WB1, WB2) operates with a
considerable loss of resolution

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 ALOS PALSAR Characteristics
ALPSRP069107150
ALOS PALSAR • L-Band
 Start Time • 05/12/07, 20:12:57
 Stop Time • 05/12/07, 20:13:07
 Beam Mode • PLR
 Path • 562
 Frame • 7150
 Flight Direction • ASCENDING
 Polarization • Quadrature
 Off Nadir Angle • 21.5
 Faraday Rotation • -0.66441
 Absolute Orbit • 6910
 Matching Frames • 1

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PALSAR SENSOR

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 SAR TERMINOLOGY

Backscatter Coefficient бo = Gamma naught

Dielectric permittivity =

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Study area:
Isinya area, Kajiado
county
• Selected because of its geological
contrast
• Relatively arid environment
• Economic potential
• Proximity to Nairobi

2/24/2021 8
GEOLOGY OF ISINYA
AREA

Kapiti phonolites
(Miocene)
and
Mozambique Belt
gneisses(Proterozoic)

2/24/2021 9
Materials and
methods
SOFTWARE:
1. SNAP Toolbox - highly adaptable
open-source software for scientific
exploration of earth observation
satellite data
2. QGIS 3.14 – Powerful open source
GIS software
3. Google Earth Pro – Free
commercial map display semi-GIS
software

DATA:
ALOS PALSAR imagery -
Radiometrically and terrain-corrected
geocoded GeoTIFF image, QuadPol
(HH,HV,VH,VV), GSD 12.5m
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ALOS PALSAR
processing for
geological
applications

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Results and
interpretation

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 END SLIDE
Lots more studies needed to test
especially L-&P-band ground
penetration capabilities in varying
Kenyan geological environments.

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 END

Feedback welcome via:

.WhatsApp - +254718613942
.E-mail: mnyakinye@yahoo.com
Facebook:
https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?i
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