A 200km swath width can be seen at once from space with ALOS-4!

The picture below shows the first observation image of the Kanto region with a 200km* swath width taken by ALOS-4. A wide area from Kujukuri, Chiba to Mt. Fuji is captured in a single observation.

*The swath is 200km with 3m, 6m, and 10m resolution in Stripmap mode, and 700km with 25m resolution in ScanSAR mode.

Please click on the picture to view and explore the published sample data.

Note: Due to the large image size (20MB), it may take some time to load the full image.

ALOS-4 is an Earth observation satellite emits radio waves toward an observation target and measures surface conditions based on the strength of the reflected waves (backscatter) in the satellite’s direction. As shown in the figure below, if there are buildings or other structures on the ground surface, the waves reflected back toward the satellite are stronger, resulting in a white image. In contrast, smooth areas such as water surfaces appear dark because the reflected waves are weaker.