Accessing the Data
NISAR products can be discovered through NASA Earthdata Search or explored in the ASF Vertex data search tool. Both provide access to data by location, acquisition date, and product type, allowing researchers to quickly identify and download observations for analysis. For automated workflows and large-scale processing, ASF also provides access through its APIs and the asf_search Python package.
Why L-Band?
NISAR is the first joint satellite mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), combining L-band and S-band radar systems designed to provide a detailed view of Earth's changing surface.
The mission's L-band radar, built by NASA JPL, operates at a 10-inch (25-centimeter) wavelength. With a longer wavelength than many spaceborne radar systems, the L-band radar can detect features that shorter wavelengths often cannot. It penetrates vegetation canopies and, under certain conditions, snow and ice, providing information that is not visible in optical imagery alone. These capabilities make L-band particularly valuable for studying forests, wetlands, glaciers, ice sheets, ground deformation, and other subtle changes across Earth's surface.
The mission's scientific value extends beyond individual observations. By repeatedly imaging the same locations twice every 12 days, even through cloud cover, NISAR will build a consistent, long-term record of surface change that supports research on glacier dynamics, land subsidence, natural hazards, ecosystem change, and other processes that evolve over time.
As NASA's archive for synthetic aperture radar data, ASF DAAC makes NISAR products available alongside decades of SAR observations from past and current missions. All NISAR L-band products are distributed free of charge through ASF DAAC and NASA Earthdata.
