PALSAR-2 ScanSAR Level 2.2

Page Summary

The JAXA/ALOS/PALSAR-2/Level2_2/ScanSAR dataset contains 25m normalized backscatter SAR imagery with an observation width of 350 km, ortho-rectified and slope corrected using the ALOS World 3D - 30m Digital Surface Model.
The dataset is available from 2014-08-04 to 2025-09-30 and is provided by JAXA EORC.
Polarization data is stored as 16-bit digital numbers (DN) and can be converted to gamma naught values in decibels using a specified equation.
Level 2.2 data is ortho-rectified, radiometrically terrain-corrected, and compatible with the CEOS Analysis Ready Data for LAND (CARD4L) standard.
The dataset includes bands for HH and HV polarization, local incidence angle, and a data quality bitmask.

Dataset Availability: 2014-08-04T00:00:00Z–2026-05-15T16:51:15.802000Z
Dataset Producer: JAXA EORC

Tags: alos2 eroc jaxa palsar2 radar sar satellite-imagery

Description

The 25 m PALSAR-2 ScanSAR is normalized backscatter data of PALSAR-2 broad area observation mode with observation width of 350 km. The SAR imagery was ortho-rectificatied and slope corrected using the ALOS World 3D - 30 m (AW3D30) Digital Surface Model. Polarization data are stored as 16-bit digital numbers (DN). The DN values can be converted to gamma naught values in decibel unit (dB) using the following equation:

γ ₀ = 10*log ₁₀ (DN ² ) - 83.0 dB

Level 2.2 data are ortho-rectified and radiometrically terrain-corrected.

This dataset is compatible with the Committee on Earth Observation (CEOS) Analysis Ready Data for LAND (CARD4L) standard.

Note that this collection is heterogeneous and contains a mixture of single-polarization (HH) and dual-polarization (HH+HV, and rarely VV+VH) images. Users should filter the collection by the Polarizations property before selecting polarization bands (e.g., collection.filter(ee.Filter.listContains('Polarizations', 'HV')) ).

Bands

Bands

Pixel size: 25 meters (all bands)

Name

Units

Scale

Pixel Size

Description

HH

25 meters

HH polarization Terrain-flattened Gamma-Nought backscatter coefficient.

HV

25 meters

HV polarization Terrain-flattened Gamma-Nought backscatter coefficient.

VV

25 meters

VV polarization Terrain-flattened Gamma-Nought backscatter coefficient.

VH

25 meters

VH polarization Terrain-flattened Gamma-Nought backscatter coefficient.

LIN

deg

0.01

25 meters

Local incidence angle. The angle formed by the radar irradiation direction and the normal of the slope.

MSK

25 meters

Data quality bitmask.

Bitmask for MSK

Bits 0-2: Data quality
- 1: Valid data
- 2: Layover
- 3: Shadowing
- 4: Ocean water
- 5: Invalid data

Image Properties

Image Properties

Name	Type	Description
AntennaPointing	STRING	Antenna pointing direction ("Right" or "Left").
AzimuthPixelSpacing	DOUBLE	Azimuth pixel spacing.
AzimuthResolution	DOUBLE	Azimuth resolution.
BeamID	STRING	Beam ID.
DataAccess_ProcessingTime	STRING	Processing time of this product (ISO8601 string).
DataAccess_SoftwareVersion	STRING	Software version of this product.
DigitalElevationModel	STRING	Type of DEM used ("Elevation" or "Surface").
EasternBias	DOUBLE	Bias of easting error.
EasternSTDev	DOUBLE	Standard deviation of easting error.
Easting_LR	DOUBLE	Easting of Lower Right of Product.
Easting_UL	DOUBLE	Easting of upper left of product.
Estimates_HH	DOUBLE	Estimated HH value in Noise Equivalent Intensity (NESZ).
Estimates_HV	DOUBLE	Estimated HV value in Noise Equivalent Intensity (NESZ).
FilterApplied	STRING	Whether a filter was applied ("TRUE" or "FALSE").
FilterType	STRING	Filter type (N/A if no filtering was applied).
FirstAcquisitionDate	STRING	Observation date of the first acquisition (ISO8601 string).
IDCMethod	STRING	Ionospheric delay correction ("TEC model" or "Coregistration").
IncAngleFarRange	DOUBLE	Incident angle in far range.
IncAngleNearRange	DOUBLE	Incident angle in near range.
IonosphericDelayCorrectionApplied	DOUBLE	Whether ionospheric delay correction was applied ("TRUE" or "FALSE").
LastAcquisitionDate	STRING	Observation date of the last acquisition (ISO 8601 string).
NRAlgorithm	STRING	Noise removal algorithm.
NoiseRemovalApplied	STRING	Whether noise removal algorithm was applied ("TRUE" or "FALSE").
NorthernBias	DOUBLE	Bias of northing error.
NorthernSTDev	DOUBLE	Standard deviation of northing error.
Northing_LR	DOUBLE	Northing of lower right of product.
Northing_UL	DOUBLE	Northing of upper left of product.
ObservationMode	STRING	Observation mode.
OrbitDataSource	STRING	Orbit data source (e.g., predicted, definite, precise, downlinked).
PassDirection	STRING	Pass direction ("Ascending" or "Descending").
Polarizations	STRING_LIST	Transmit/Receive polarisation for the data. There is one element for each Tx/Rx combination: ['VV'], ['HH'], ['VV', 'VH'], or ['HH', 'HV'].
ProductColumnSpacing	DOUBLE	Product column spacing.
ProductRowSpacing	DOUBLE	Product row spacing.
Product_Version	DOUBLE	Product version.
RSP_Frame_Number	INT	Scene frame number.
RSP_Path_Number	INT	Scene path number.
RadarCenterFrequency	DOUBLE	Center frequency.
RangePixelSpacing	DOUBLE	Range pixel spacing.
RangeResolution	INT	Range resolution.
SlantRangeCorrection	INT_LIST	The correction for each scan described from the first scan.
SourceProcParam_ProcessingDate	STRING	Processing date of the source product (ISO8601 string).
SourceProcParam_ProcessingFacility	STRING	Processing facility of the source product.
SourceProcParam_ProductID	STRING	Product ID of the source product.
SourceProcParam_SoftwareVersion	DOUBLE	Software version of the source product.

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

Anyone can use this data free of charge subject to the to the attribution requirements. For detailed terms of use see JAXA G-Portal Terms of service (Section 7. Condition concerning of G-Portal data).

Citations

The data used for this paper have been provided by Earth Observation Research Center (EORC) of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Explore with Earth Engine

Code Editor (JavaScript)

 var 
  
 collection 
  
 = 
  
 ee 
 . 
 ImageCollection 
 ( 
 'JAXA/ALOS/PALSAR-2/Level2_2/ScanSAR' 
 ) 
  
 . 
 filterBounds 
 ( 
 ee 
 . 
 Geometry 
 . 
 Point 
 ( 
 143 
 , 
  
 - 
 5 
 )); 
 var 
  
 image 
  
 = 
  
 collection 
 . 
 first 
 (); 
 Map 
 . 
 addLayer 
 ( 
 image 
 . 
 select 
 ([ 
 'HH' 
 ]), 
  
 { 
 min 
 : 
  
 0 
 , 
  
 max 
 : 
  
 8000 
 }, 
  
 'HH polarization' 
 ); 
 Map 
 . 
 centerObject 
 ( 
 image 
 );

Python setup

See the Python Environment page for information on the Python API and using geemap for interactive development.

 import 
  
 ee 
 import 
  
 geemap.core 
  
 as 
  
 geemap

Colab (Python)

 collection 
 = 
 ee 
 . 
 ImageCollection 
 ( 
 'JAXA/ALOS/PALSAR-2/Level2_2/ScanSAR' 
 ) 
 . 
 filterBounds 
 ( 
 ee 
 . 
 Geometry 
 . 
 Point 
 ( 
 143 
 , 
 - 
 5 
 )) 
 image 
 = 
 collection 
 . 
 first 
 () 
 m 
 = 
 geemap 
 . 
 Map 
 () 
 m 
 . 
 add_layer 
 ( 
 image 
 . 
 select 
 ([ 
 'HH' 
 ]), 
 { 
 'min' 
 : 
 0 
 , 
 'max' 
 : 
 8000 
 }, 
 'HH polarization' 
 ) 
 m 
 . 
 center_object 
 ( 
 image 
 ) 
 m

Open in Code Editor

PALSAR-2 ScanSAR Level 2.2

JAXA/ALOS/PALSAR-2/Level2_2/ScanSAR, alos2,eroc,jaxa,palsar2,radar,sar,satellite-imagery

2014-08-04T00:00:00Z/2026-05-15T16:51:15.802000Z

-90 -180 90 180

Google Earth Engine

https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets

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Page Summary

Description

Bands

Image Properties

Terms of Use

Citations

Explore with Earth Engine

Code Editor (JavaScript)

Colab (Python)

PALSAR-2 ScanSAR Level 2.2