Reconstructing enhanced resolution images from spaceborne microwave sensors

Low resolution has limited the land applications of space-borne microwave remote sensors, particularly radiometers. To overcome this limitation, the authors apply two image enhancement algorithms to radiometer data for land and ice studies: a modified version of the scatterometer image reconstruction algorithm and the Backus and Gilbert inversion technique. The authors compare these methods' effectiveness over land and ice areas by imaging radiometric data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and the Seasat-A Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) as well as the Seasat-A (SASS) and the ERS-1 scatterometer. The image resolution depends on the footprint shape in addition to the footprint size. Inverse filtering improves image quality by compensating for the microwave sensor's intrinsic low pass filtering. Methods are described for developing the inverse filter.< >