Results from the NASA-ISRO SAR Mission Applications Workshop: Linking Mission Goals to Societal Benefit

In October 2014, we held a two-day workshop that sought community input on applications for the upcoming NASA-ISRO SAR mission. The goals of the applications workshop were to a) inform the applications and end user communities about the mission; b) to solicit feedback on mission design elements; c) to explore new applications research directions; d) identify high-value products; and e) search for collaborative opportunities. In this workshop the broad science applications and research communities, governmental agencies, developers, and potential users of data were invited and engaged in discussions to ensure the mission produces data and products of value to the applications community. Invited presentations highlighted potential applied science areas with SAR, both currently considered mature and those possibly advanced by the mission. These applications areas included agriculture, water and energy resources, disasters and infrastructure monitoring, sea ice and coastal oceans. Breakout sessions discussed applications community observational needs and data product specifications in greater detail, and how these needs could be met with observations, collection modes, fundamental SAR imaging and derived products. We will present highlights from the workshop, as well as results from discussion of observation needs, data product specifications, and plans for future work on developing applications for the NISAR mission.