RADARSAT-1 imagery news from Melanie Engram.
Pasting in an email I just got from Melanie. I should say that Jim’s craft has a radar reflector on the mast, and that algorithmic processing, rather than visual inspection, may well prove useful here.
Melanie writes:
The Canadians have tasked the RADARSAT-1 SAR satellite with two more imaging events: for 3-Feb and 4-Feb., scheduled specifically for Jim’s search. These are the next two orbits that cover the area and the incidence angles are much better for ship detection. The MDA Corporation will make the data available to the same distribution list as last time, at no charge.
2007-Feb-03 02:21; Standard 7 beam mode
Planned in Freeze, OBR (just outside of PASS visibility)
Playback 03-Feb 11:07 UTC - Saturday morning2007-Feb-04 14:07; Fine 4 beam mode
For planning in Friday Freeze, Realtime Prince AlbertPlease let Jim’s family and friends know that the generous response from the Canadians, who own and manage RADARSAT-1, is unprecedented in my experience. I hope it lends some comfort to know that Jim’s search has elicited a large, high-tech response from the international SAR community. When I say “Canadians” I mean: MDA Geospatial Services, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Canadian Data Processing Facility (CDPF).
Please thank Jim’s wife for her description of Jim’s boat. I also found photos of Jim’s boat on a USCG page, showing reflector, mast, hull, angles that might reflect, etc.:
http://www.uscgsanfrancisco.com/go/searchresults/823/?q=jim+grayThis is still a small boat and a lot of time has passed, but MDA says the SAR imagery will be available about 15:00-17:00utc Saturday and about 18:00-20:00utc for those who want it (same distribution method as last time).
Thanks to the ASF team in Alaska, and to MDA and the CSA, for the tremendous efforts on this.
February 4th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
The contrast of the radarsat images on MTurk is quite variable from scene to scene (if they are Radarsat, I presume they are). My past experience with radarsat and ship imaging is limited, but I have seen what is possible for larger ships (such as oil tankers). The ships appear as a bright star (high return), oil slicks can be visible (less return that the water), as well as ship wakes (wave reflection). I’m sure Jim’s boat (and/or debris) wouldn’t make much of a signal return, but an oil slick might be visible in the right contrast…I’ll keep looking!