Figure 3. South-East Asia and Papua New Guinea. GRFM 
acquisitions cover grey areas. 
4.3 Data processing 
4.3.1 Raw data processing: The raw data 
processing of all the data will be performed at NASDA 
Earth Observation Center, using the up-graded version of 
the SAR processor, generating ground range, amplitude, 
16 bits, 12.5 meter pixel standard NASDA scenes. 
4.3.2 Generation of low resolution data and 
image mosaics: The high resolution scenes will be 
handed over to NASDA Earth Observation Research 
Center for downsampling to low resolution scenes at 100 
meter pixel size and generation of texture images. 
NASDA EORC will also be responsible for the generation 
of the 100 meter and 400 meter mosaics, utilizing the 
newly developed software for automatic mosaicking 
described above (see 2.4.4). No classification efforts are 
planned for the SEA & PNG region. 
Generation of low resolution images and mosaics 
covering Papua New Guinea/lrian Jaya will be made by 
the Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center of Japan 
(ERSDAC). 
5 ON-LINE BROWSER AND GRFM PROJECT 
OUTPUT DATA SETS 
All the 100 meter resolution non-mosaicked scenes 
generated within the project will be made available on the 
Internet for on-line browsing and down loading for non- 
commercial purposes only. The data are planned to be 
stored in GIF format on following web servers: 
NASDA EORC (http://www.eorc.nasda.go.jp/eorc/) 
JPL (http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/) 
JRC (http://wwwmtv.jrc.it/) 
Swedish Space Corporation (http://www.ssc.se/) 
Note that the above addresses are tentative and may be 
subject to change. GRFM home pages at INPE and others 
are under consideration. 
A dedicated CD-ROM for each continent featuring the 400 
meter semi-continental mosaics, classification results (if 
  
598 
any) and a number of 100 meter regional mosaics over 
sites of specific interest will be made for wide distribution 
to non-commercial users world wide. A more limited 
number of CD-ROMs for each continent containing the 
remaining regional mosaics will be made available to 
scientists and researchers working actively in the area, 
Under consideration is also an educational CD-ROM 
aimed at high schools and universities with restricteq 
computer resources and limited knowledge of SAR, 
featuring 100 meter and 400 meter data in file sizes of 
maximum 1 Mb (to fit on a floppy disc) and educational 
documentation. 
6 GRFM SCIENCE PROJECTS 
In parallel with the over all efforts to acquire the 
continuous continental scale JERS-1 SAR coverage, run 
what are called the GRFM Science Projects. These 
projects are generally supported by extensive ground 
verification efforts and aim both at conducting intensive 
studies at all from local to global scales. The science 
projects are independently managed by researchers and 
scientists from a large number of organizations and 
universities world wide and they are linked to GRFM and 
NASDA via research agreements. 
Large scale (global, regional, continental) studies aim at 
studying (e.g.): 
* the current deforestation status on a continental level, 
* temporal and spatial distribution of annual flooding 
* natural release of green house gases from flooded 
environments, 
* refinement of global carbon budget models 
Small scale (local) intensive studies (e.g.): 
* Mapping of the presence and intensity of deforestation 
* Relating physical parameters (e.g. forest biomass) to 
radar backscatter 
* Mapping of animal habitats (e.g. fish, turtles) 
* Estimation of river algae production 
* Human encroachment around protected areas. 
The GRFM Science Projects, which often are interleaved 
within the over all GRFM mission objectives, include 
scientists from, among others, NASDA, RESTEC, 
ERSDAC (Japan), INPE, INPA (Brazil), NRCT (Thailand), 
Lapan (Indonesia), NASA/JPL (USA), JRC (E.C.), BNSC 
(U.K.), CNES, CESBIO (France), RAS (Russia), SSC 
(Sweden), WCS (Congo/USA) and the universities of 
Michigan, California Santa Barbara, New Hampshire, 
Southampton and Chalmers Gothenburg. 
7 REFERENCES 
Freeman, A., Kramer, C., Alves, M. and Chapman, B., 
1995. Amazon Rain Forest Classification Using JERS-1 
SAR Data. Final Report of JERS-1/ERS-1 System 
Verification Progr. Vol.ll, pp 343-353. NASDA/MITI 1995. 
Ramberg, E., 1984. Zeroes on the Gauss-Doolittle 
Scheme. Lantmátar Digest 1984. Royal Institute of 
Technology, Stockholm. KTH-fmi/Lmk-84. 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996