A simulated flight over the Rocky Mountains of Montana using a three-dimensional map constructed from SIR-C radar observations May 16, 1996

The following computer generated animation creates a simulated flight over the rugged Rocky Mountains of northwest Montana, from Missoula to the front range. The flight uses a three-dimensional digital elevation map created from radar interferometry measurements.
Radar images were taken on two successive days by the SIR-C/X-SAR spaceborne imaging radar system as it orbited the Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Endeovour in October 1994. The map demonstrates the radar techniques required to create a 3-dimensional global map of the Earth.

The colors are derived from the radar backscatter image at L-band (24 cm) and C-band (6 cm) wavelengths in the following combination: Red = L-band; Green = C-band; Blue = the apparent difference between L-band image over the two days.

Our flight begins in the Bitterroot Mountains just southwest of Missoula heading east.
Some of the mountain slopes are too steep to image with the radar interferometry and appear to have vertical stripes on them. We proceed notheasterward and approach the city of Missoula (bright yellow) along the valley of Bitterroot River.
We then move northwest along the Missoula Valley past some agricultural areas which appear in various shades of green. We cross northeast into the valley of the Jocko River and the Flathead Indian reservation. We continue to the steep mountain front of the Swan Range and the Valley of the South Fork Flathead River.
The Continental Divide passes through the Rocky Mountains here as we enter the Bob Marshall Wilderness area.

This work was sponsored by NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth and the Information System Office.

Produced for the SIR-C Project, the Solar System Visualization Project and the New Millenium Program and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Digital Image Animation Laboratory.

By

Science visualization:
J. Hall, E. De Jong, F. Hartman

Concept:
J. Plant, D. Evans, F.K. Li

DEM production:
E.J. Fielding, P. Rosen, S. Hensley, S. Shaffer

Interferometric Processing:
SIR-C Processing team (C.Y. Chang, Team Leader) and the Members of the SIR-C/X-SAR flight team