Will ASF HyP3 support NISAR? Any roadmap/timeline?

[iwa103]

Hi ASF/HyP3 team,

I currently use HyP3 for Sentinel-1 InSAR processing. However, Sentinel-1 is C-band and coherence often degrades over vegetated/mountainous areas. In my region (many mountainous/forested slopes), C-band InSAR frequently fails to maintain coherence, so I’m very interested in NISAR (L-band) for routine monitoring and evaluation.

Will NISAR data (e.g., GSLC / GUNW / RTC) be supported in ASF HyP3 in the future? If so, is there any public roadmap or tentative timeline for when HyP3 processing will become available for NISAR?

If others are also interested, please reply with your use case (e.g., landslides/infrastructure/agriculture), desired product types, and urgency—so community demand is visible.

Thank you.

Regards
Yoshi Iwasa
Ehime pref,Japan

[khogenso]

Yoshi,

Thank you for highlighting your use case. Forested, mountainous terrain is exactly where L-band shines, and your feedback helps us prioritize our efforts.

We are currently working with NASA ESDIS and JPL to find a cost-effective way to process NISAR’s massive data volume. Our goal is to provide interoperable, analysis-ready products while staying within our budgetary limits.

• Will HyP3 support NISAR? We are actively evaluating this. It is a high-priority option, but the final decision depends on available resources.
• Where is the roadmap? We will be adding a development roadmap to the NISAR Data User Guide around the time of the next data release (expected next month).

Please keep sharing your specific needs for L-band products; it provides the "community demand" data we need to justify these tools to NASA!

-- Kirk, ASF NISAR Project Manager

[ASF - hjkristenson]

@iwa103,
The NISAR mission makes some higher-level products available directly in the archive without the need for additional processing. This includes Geocoded SLCs (GSLC), 12-day Geocoded Unwrapped Interferograms (GUNW), and Geocoded Covariance (GCOV) products, which can be used in place of an RTC product (they contain radiometrically terrain corrected values in gamma-0 power for each available polarization). ASF makes all of these mission products available for download or direct S3 access. Refer to the Data Products section of the NISAR Data User Guide for more information about the product types generated as part of the mission.

There are already some sample products available in the archive, with more scheduled to arrive starting today, allowing you to take a look at these products to determine if they are suitable for your analysis workflows. Keep in mind that the currently available NISAR products are not fully calibrated, and contain artifacts. We expect calibrated products to be delivered to the archive starting this summer.

As @khogenso mentioned, there may still be use cases for on-demand processing when the archived products don't meet your needs. While we are not yet able to commit to specific on-demand processing support, it would be helpful to know what functionality is most important to our users as we evaluate available options. For example, are you looking for the ability to customize the level 2 products already available (custom GUNW date pairs, different processing parameters, different output pixel spacing or file format, etc.), or are you requesting that level 3 algorithms be implemented that take GUNW/GSLC/GCOV as input?

Thanks for your interest in NISAR!

[iwa103]

I checked GUNW product and my comment is below.

1.spatial resolution
In the GUNW products, the pixel spacing appears to be approximately 20 m for the wrapped interferogram and about 80 m for the unwrapped phase and coherence layers. In contrast, HyP3 allowed users to select between higher and lower spatial resolutions. At present, the inability to choose the spatial resolution in GUNW is a somewhat limiting aspect from the user perspective.

2. SBAS compatibility
I understand that GUNW products are primarily generated for 12-day interferometric pairs. However, typical SBAS analyses require multiple temporal baselines, such as 24-day and 36-day pairs, in order to construct a stable interferometric network.

If possible, the availability of GUNW pairs up to three cycles (e.g., 24- and 36-day intervals) would make it significantly easier to conduct SBAS analysis using tools such as MintPy. Given the expected improvement in coherence over vegetated areas with L-band data, expanding compatibility with SBAS workflows would be particularly valuable.

3.Comparison with HyP3
On the other hand, HyP3 had monthly credit limits that restricted the number of processing runs. In contrast, the absence of such usage limitations for GUNW products can be considered a major advantage.

If possble NISAR RSCL can run by HyP3, it could be helpful, but not nessecary.

Yoshi Iwasa
Japan, Ehime Pref

[ASF - bhauer]

Thank you for your input, Yoshi. I know that many involved with the NISAR project are watching the Forum for feedback and questions, and will take note of your observations and perhaps respond.