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Full catalog/ALOS_PSR_RTC_LOW
ALOS_PSR_RTC_LOW·v1·dataset

Cloud-piercing radar, terrain-corrected, low res (ALOS PALSAR)

ALOS PALSAR Low Resolution Radiometric Terrain Corrected Product
land NASA ASF Level 2
In plain English

What it measures. Radar images of land worldwide that can see through clouds and work day or night, with the distorting effects of mountains and slopes removed so the brightness reflects the true ground surface.

How it's made. Produced from the ALOS satellite's PALSAR radar instrument, then corrected for terrain so steep landscapes are not artificially brightened or shadowed; delivered at lower resolution.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for mapping land cover, monitoring forests and floods, and pairing with optical satellite images like Landsat where clouds would otherwise block the view.

What's measured

AGRICULTURE › FOREST SCIENCE › REFORESTATIONBIOSPHERE › ECOSYSTEMS › TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMSCRYOSPHERE › FROZEN GROUND › PERMAFROSTCRYOSPHERE › FROZEN GROUND › ROCK GLACIERSCRYOSPHERE › GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS › GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATIONCRYOSPHERE › GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS › GLACIER MOTION/ICE SHEET MOTIONCRYOSPHERE › GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS › GLACIER THICKNESS/ICE SHEET THICKNESSCRYOSPHERE › GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS › GLACIER TOPOGRAPHY/ICE SHEET TOPOGRAPHYCRYOSPHERE › GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS › GLACIERSCRYOSPHERE › GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS › ICE SHEETSCRYOSPHERE › GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS › ICEBERGSCRYOSPHERE › SEA ICE › ICE DEFORMATIONCRYOSPHERE › SEA ICE › ICE DEPTH/THICKNESSCRYOSPHERE › SEA ICE › ICE EDGES

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2006-03-23 → 2011-04-22
  • Measured byALOS (PALSAR)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

ASF's SAR Radiometric Terrain Corrected (RTC) dataset gives terrestrial world-wide coverage; excluding Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, and Asia north of 60 degrees latitude. Users can analyze radiometry with the effects of topography removed. Topography can be analyzed with the effects of layover and shadow corrected. This SAR product works well with optical Landsat 8.

Get the data

alos_psr_rtc_low_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ALOS_PSR_RTC_LOW",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from ASF
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.