ABSTRACT
The first Shuttle Imaging Radar missions (SIR-A and SIR-B) over Egypt and Sudan demonstrated the capability of 24.5-cm wavelength (L-band) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) signals to return geologic information from depths as great as 2–3 meters within the loose sand cover and semi-consolidated alluvium typical of this desert surface (Schaber et al., 1986). Images produced by the return of radar signals from beneath the surficial sediment reveal patterns of ancient river beds and a buried erosion surface (McCauley et al., 1982, 1986; Breed, et al., 1983, 1987). In the Eastern Sahara, imaging radar thus provided a new means for geologic exploration of the shallow subsurface in desert areas that are concealed by thin sand cover. Similar radar penetration was also demonstrated in the Badan-Jaran Desert of China (Breed et al., 1982; Guo et al., 1986), in Saudi Arabia (Berlin et al., 1986), and in the Mohave Desert of California (Blom et al., 1984; Farr et al., 1986). The SIR-C/X-SAR mission (to be flown starting late in 1993) is expected to provide many more radar images of deserts in both northern and southern Africa.
