From 1993 to 1996, the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) owned and operated a C-band (λ = 5.656 cm) airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) with along-track interferometric capabilities. This along-track InSAR used a microstrip antenna mounted on the right side of the aircraft, which could be electronically divided into two sub-antennas with phase centres separated by 0.46 meters along the flight direction. In June, 1994 the CCRS InSAR was flown in a series of missions over the Bay of Fundy in conjunction with a dune survey experiment undertaken by the Canadian Hydrographic Services vessel, “NSC Frederick G. Creed”. The ability of the InSAR to measure surface current velocities and to use them to enhance the detection of subsurface features was investigated, and compared with results available from the ship based sonar survey and from ERS-1 satellite SAR imagery. Experiments in 1995 continued this work and also examined the ability of the InSAR to detect moving ship and wake signatures. The results indicate that the CCRS airborne along-track InSAR is capable, under the right conditions, of detecting changes in ocean bottom topography, of providing a high resolution snapshot of the surface currents in a large area, and of enhancing the detection of moving targets on the ocean surface.
