Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery training in Gabon

The aim of the workshop was to build capacity in processing and analyzing the SAR imagery in East Africa and Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. It was attended by 17 participants from Rwanda, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Gabon.  Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is an active form of remote sensing that does not rely on the sun to acquire images. It has applications in different disciplines from disaster management, weather monitoring to maritime surveillance and others.  SAR experts from NASA, DLR and SAREDU Initiative provided specific lectures and hands-on training, thanks to which the participants learned about the SAR applications in flood mapping, land cover mapping, agriculture, ship detection, oil spills detection and tracking illegal fishing. 

The event was supported by UN-SPIDER, the Copernicus Programme, ESA and CEOS Working Group on Capacity Development and Data Democracy (WGCapD).