Harry's Notes of March 4, 1999

1. At the UWG telecon today (March 4) we discussed the Radarsat
background mission and the process by which the background
coverage should be determined.  The motivating factor is that
typically 100 to 200 minutes (per 24-day cycle) of the U.S. Radarsat
allocation are unused, and this amount is projected to increase.
We feel an urgency to put in place a scientifically meaningful
plan to collect additional Radarsat data up to the U.S. allocation.
The background acquisitions would be real-time downlinks within
the ASF or McMurdo station masks, and thus not incur the costs
associated with foreign ground stations.

2. A process already exists for evaluating the scientific merit
of proposed SAR acquisitions, the so-called "two-page proposals"
that investigators submit to ASF to request access to SAR data.
Proposals for the background mission should be submitted as such.
These proposals would be evaluated and selected by the ASF Program
Scientist and Chief Scientist.

3. A notice should go out in the next ASF User Bulletin soliciting
proposals for the background mission.  A deadline should be
established, such as one month from the date of the Bulletin, 
by which proposals must be in.  There must be a clear statement
in the Bulletin that a "background mission" means that acquisitions
will be requested only if excess allocation is available after all
other user-generated acquisition requests have been submitted.
The background mission will not displace or interfere with any
existing projects.  There is no guarantee that ANY data will be
acquired as part of the proposed background missions.  The
background mission could be "re-competed" every six months,
with a new call for proposals being issued at the appropriate time.

4. The above process involving the submission, evaluation, and
implementation of background mission proposals will take some time
(probably at least two months, hopefully not much longer).  In the
meantime, we should not let the U.S. allocation slip away.  There
are already three proposals on the table for a background mission:
Antarctic sea ice, Antarctic ice sheets, and Alaskan volcanoes.
Detailed acquisition plans for the first two are published on the
UWG web site (http://psc.apl.washington.edu/ASFUWG).  The ASF
Program Scientist and Chief Scientist should implement some
combination of these three plans immediately, as a short-term
solution, until the solicited proposals have been evaluated.
Once this short-term background mission is in place, the ASF User
Bulletin should announce that fact and describe the planned
coverage, so that all users will have the opportunity to order
the data if and when it is collected.