The NISAR mission, a collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation, uses L-band synthetic aperture radar to penetrate cloud cover and collect detailed Earth surface imagery. In November 2025, it imaged the Pacific Northwest, including Seattle and Portland, providing data that supports resource management and monitoring of natural hazards like volcanoes, glaciers, and landslides.
NISAR's 12-meter antenna captures microwave backscatter signals, revealing surface properties such as moisture and vegetation. Analysts at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory process these images to detect subtle changes over time, benefiting industries and environmental decision-making in cloudy regions like the Pacific Northwest.
Source & further reading
NASA-ISRO Satellite Captures Pacific Northwest Through Clouds ↗Source published 2026-03-25. This report was prepared with AI assistance from the linked primary-source material. Claims and limitations should be checked against the original announcement or research.