access to alos 2

[cooper_w1525]

Hello, is alos 2 data freely avaidable , and if so where can I access it? ive treid on G-portal and satpf, but either getting errors or no data. thanks

[ASFx - bhauer]

JAXA provides some open ALOS-2 PALSAR ScanSAR data. Information on availability can be found on this product information webpage: https://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/ALOS/en/dataset/palsar2_l22_e.htm

Please note that ASF will have ALOS-2 data available through Vertex before the end of this year.

Thank you.

[jankianicka]

Dear ASF service, dear Bhauer,
I have read that ALOS-2 should be free of charge distributed already.
Sought on internet - downloaded older ALOS-1 SLC interferometry data from ASF Vertex. However, I still do not see ALOS-2 in Vertex.
Also other options like G-portal, Tellus of JAXA do not work currently.
PASCO Corporation provides "Earth Observation Data Utilization Promotion Platform" - https://satpf.jp/spf/?lang=en.
But through this platform one could order ALOS-2 SLC products, but for very high commercial price.
May I ask, what is the status of ALOS-2 publication on AFS Vertex?
Thank you very much
Kind regards
Jan Kianicka
Slovakia

[ASF - bhauer]

ALOS-2 ScanSAR data are now available from ASF. For now, these data are only available through NASA Earthdata Search as the development work for Vertex is not quite complete. Click on this link to go right to the collection.

Note that we have only ingested approximately 20% of the data we have received from JAXA, though we are working through this backlog as quickly as possible. Also, be aware that the ALOS-2 mirror at ASF will not include the most recent acquisitions as long as the mission is still active.

[mallory_alman]

Hi folks,

Thanks for posting your questions and answers! This forum has been very helpful. I've noticed that the full date range for ALOS PALSAR-2 is not yet available on Earthdata (as well as on other platforms) for certain geographic regions, and I was wondering why this might be. Is it just because those images haven't been uploaded yet?

I'm a PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill planning to use L-Band SAR for my dissertation in the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula of North Carolina (Rectangle coordinates are approximately SW: 35.18022,-77.19434 ; NE: 36.07727,-75.41016). However, the dates of the images in that location span only from 2018 to 2023 at a much longer return interval than the 14 days mentioned on the JAXA website. My dissertation plans to use the data from the full 2014 to 2024/2025ish range (as stated by JAXA), and the most important date ranges are the summers of 2015/2016 and the winter of 2017. I was wondering if it's possible to know why these images are missing. If it is simply because they haven't been uploaded yet, is there a target date for upload? I am hoping to aim to complete this within the next 1 to 2 years and would like to assess whether that is feasible.

Here is the link to the search I did today on Earthdata. I'm using Firefox on Windows 11, and I didn't get any error messages: https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/granules?p=C3315903479-ASF&pg[0][v]=f&pg[0][qt]=2014-08-01T00%3A00%3A00.000Z%2C2025-04-09T23%3A59%3A59.999Z&pg[0][gsk]=start_date&sb[0]=-77.19434%2C35.18022%2C-75.41016%2C36.07727&tl=1575575446.469!5!!&lat=34.99167936185311&long=-78.79833984375001&zoom=6

Interestingly, I'm not getting the full date range by accessing the data through Google Earth Engine either, BUT the image dates on GEE are different from those on Earthdata. I've also tried G-Portal (which is back up now), but I don't get any results at all for my study region there. I have tried Amazon Web Service too, but am having a lot of trouble learning to use it.

Any advice or context you can provide would be super helpful. Thanks for your time!
-Mallory Alman

[ASF - bhauer]

Hello Mallory,
The ALOS-2 ScanSAR data that ASF has received from JAXA so far are what is available in Earthdata Search. We'll continue to ingest and make available data as they are received from JAXA, but this will be a slow process.

The search you did over your study area using Earthdata Search found 19 granules, and the search I did of the JAXA archive since the start of the mission using G-Portal found 34 granules. Paste this link into a browser to recreate my G-Portal search.

The East Coast of the U.S. is a region that has only been infrequently imaged throughout the ALOS-2 mission, as you've discovered. So, you're not going to find more coverage over your study area than what is offered in G-Portal from the other data service providers you listed.

I know this doesn't help with your research plans. Have you considered using Sentinel-1 C-band radar imagery instead?

Please let us know if you still have questions.

[mallory_alman]

Ah, darn! Thanks for your quick reply. While not what I'd hoped, this clears things up a lot. I am hoping to look at soil properties underneath vegetation canopies, so C-band radar will very likely be inadequate for my purposes. I'll probably just need to tweak my questions to match the spatial/temporal properties of these data. That is, unless you know of another L-band source other than the first ALOS PALSAR that's freely available fairly consistently spatially and temporally somewhere near the NC coast. I have looked around but not found anything else, really.

Thanks again for your help!
Mallory

[ASFx - bhauer]

Mallory,
Unfortunately, I'm not aware of anything that meets your requirements for historical observations.

There is though the upcoming NISAR mission, scheduled to launch soon. This is a NASA/ISRO SAR mission, will have an L-band instrument onboard, and provide 12-day, global coverage. The entire NISAR data catalog will be available from ASF.

[mallory_alman]

Thank you, Bill!