Photo by the Canadian Space Agency
RADARSAT 2
RADARSAT 2 is capable of scanning the Earth at all times, day or night through any weather conditions, RADARSAT 2 has typically acquired more than 30,000 images a year since its launch in 2007.
When the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) launched its first Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, RADARSAT-1, in 1995, they weren't thinking about agriculture. But scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) saw data streams from earth-orbiting satellites as an opportunity to look at agriculture from a stellar new vantage point. Soon, they were using satellite data steams to run crop models and evaluate the ability of fields to drain.
Fast forward to June 2019 when the CSA launched it's third generation of SAR satellites, the RADARSAT-Constellation, and agriculture is now one of the primary clients and end-users.
Using Satellite Technology for Agriculture
The RADARSAT-Constellation is a series of three SAR satellites. When linked together, they orbit the earth, providing more frequent coverage and more advanced imaging of our agricultural resources.
Dr. Andrew Davidson, manager of Earth Observation Operations at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), explains that there is no better way to obtain national-scale information on the state and trends of agriculture and resource use than from space.
"Satellites can cover way more ground at a much faster pace than humans, drones or aircraft, and the data can be used to measure things such as crop type, vegetation cover and productivity and surface soil moisture conditions," he says.
These data are correlated with data from aircrafts, drones, and ground collection networks to produce highly accurate measurements of crops and conditions, with the ability to detect changes quickly.
