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NSCAT Data
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Global Image of Land Surfaces
This is a black & white and color global image of land surfaces as seen by the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT)
which was onboard Japan's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite. The scatterometer's primary function was to study
winds over the oceans, but scientists have devised a way of studying changes in the instrument's
radar backscatter to look at land surfaces as well. The scatterometer's radar is sensitive to
conditions on the Earth's surface. The brightest regions in this image are glacial ice sheets
in Greenland and Antarctica. Tropical rainforests along the equator in South America, Africa
and Southeast Asia are relatively bright due to their vegetation and soil moisture. Very dry,
sandy deserts show up as black in this image. Some examples are the Empty Quarter in Saudia
Arabia, the Gobi Desert in Western China and the Sahara Desert in North Africa. The light area
just below the wide, dark band in Africa is known as the Sahel, a region that lightens and darkens
with the changing seasons and drought conditions in Africa. The seasonal radar response of the
Sahel is thought to be a sensitive indicator of desertification due to global warming and
climate change. NSCAT was launched from Japan on August 16, 1996. The mission represented the
first major collaboration between the two nations in Earth remote-sensing. JPL developed, built
and manages the NSCAT instrument for NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth.
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