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Observations from the joint NASA/ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite provide new opportunities for monitoring large- and small-scale changes on Earth's surface and learning what they mean for natural hazards, ecosystems, the cryosphere, vegetation, sea level, groundwater, and human-built infrastructure.

Learn more about NISAR

Type

Earth Observation Satellite

Data Center

ASF DAAC

Launch

July 30, 2025

Objective

Observe and measure changes on Earth's surface
NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) each provided SAR instruments, at two different radar frequencies, to measure changes on Earth's surface in unprecedented detail.
Learn more about NASA's partnership with ISRO
The logo for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in blue and orange

NISAR products are datasets derived from L-band radar measurements that help track changes on Earth’s surface over time. They range from foundational radar data to ready-to-use maps showing land movement, ice changes, vegetation structure, and soil moisture. Together, these products turn radar observations into actionable information that supports research and informed decision-making about our changing planet.

The NISAR Science Data System (SDS) produces Level 0, 1, and 2 products from L-band radar data, while the NISAR Project Science Team develops Level 3 products. 

In February 2026, the NISAR mission team released over 100,000 pre-calibration Level 1 to Level 3 L-band data products. This data release captures a sampling of locations around the world and is meant to help users become familiar with the data products and develop workflows for accessing and working with large data volumes. The full global release of calibrated NISAR data products is scheduled for July 2026. For up-to-date information on NISAR product release dates and other product information, refer to the NISAR Data User Guide.

NISAR data are available to download from ASF using Vertex Data Search, asf_search, and Earthdata Search.

 

NISAR Level 0 to Level 3 Product Summary

For a more comprehensive description, click on a product name to open the NISAR Data User Guide.

Level 0

  • Radar Raw Signal Data (RRSD)
    • Raw, uncompressed radar signal data. The RRSD product is comparable to the L0 and L1.0 data products from other SAR sensors (e.g., ESA and JAXA). Metadata are included to assist in further processing.

 

Level 1

  • Range Doppler Single Look Complex (RSLC)
    • Focused signal data provided in zero-Doppler radar geometry. Both amplitude and phase information are preserved. The output image is on a grid, with constant azimuth time and range spacing. Includes complex signal data for each polarization. The RSLC is the basis for deriving other L1 and L2 products.
  • Range Doppler Wrapped Interferogram (RIFG)
    • Includes a raster layer that represents the phase difference of two coregistered RSLC products in range-Doppler geometry (interferogram), and a layer representing the normalized interferometric correlation. Both layers are flattened (ellipsoid and topography) and multi-looked to a nominal ground posting of 30 m.
    • Primarily intended for detecting grounding lines and generated for acquisitions over Antarctica, Greenland, and selected mountain glaciers.
  • Range Doppler Unwrapped Interferogram (RUNW)
    • An unwrapped, flattened (ellipsoid- and topography) interferogram generated from two RSLC products in range-Doppler geometry and multi-looked to a nominal ground posting of 80 m.
    • Generated over cryosphere regions, including Greenland, Antarctica, and selected mountain glaciers.
  • Range Doppler Pixel Offsets (ROFF)
    • Contains a collection of pixel offset layers obtained from incoherent speckle tracking on a pair of coarsely coregistered RSLC products. The estimated pixel offsets mostly represent movements of targets on the ground between the times of the reference and secondary images.
    • Primarily intended for cryosphere applications and generated for acquisitions over Antarctica, Greenland, and selected mountain glaciers.

 

Level 2

  • Geocoded Single Look Complex (GSLC)
    • Derived from the Level-1 RSLC product by geocoding the input RSLC onto a UTM map coordinate system (polar stereographic at polar regions). Both amplitude and phase information are preserved. Can be directly overlaid on a map or combined with other similar GSLC products to generate interferograms and change maps.
  • Geocoded Polarimetric Covariance (GCOV)
    • Derived from the Level-1 RSLC product. Provides calibrated backscatter measurements in gamma-0 power values, corrected for both radiometric and terrain distortions. Comparable to corrected products from other SAR sensors, the GCOV product can be used in the same way as Normalized Radar Backscatter (NRB) or Radiometrically Terrain Corrected (RTC) products.
  • Geocoded Pixel Offsets (GOFF)
    • Derived from the Level-1 ROFF product by projecting the range-Doppler pixel offset layers into a UTM grid (polar stereographic at polar regions).
    • Primarily intended for cryosphere applications and generated for acquisitions over Antarctica, Greenland, and selected mountain glaciers.
  • Geocoded Unwrapped Interferogram (GUNW)
    • Derived from the Level-1 RUNW product by projecting onto a UTM map coordinate system (polar stereographic at polar regions) at an 80-m ground posting.

 

Level 3

  • Soil Moisture (SME2)
    • A global high-resolution product, produced on a 200 m grid over all land areas except those covered by permanent ice, urban areas, or inland water bodies.

 

NISAR Urgent Response Data provides faster access to NISAR imagery when natural disasters or other major events occur. When NISAR collects data in response to an event — such as an earthquake, volcanic activity, flood, or landslide — the data are flagged as Urgent Response (UR). Once flagged, these data are prioritized for downlink and processing so they are made available as quickly as possible. 

NISAR Urgent Response products will be stored in specific collections in the CMR. There will be one collection for each product level (L0 through L2), instead of being spread across different CMR collections corresponding to each NISAR product type (as is done with standard products). Within the Vertex search interface, users can specify that they are specifically interested in UR products as part of their search parameters.

Since the products are processed early, certain processing parameters such as orbit ephemeris data won’t be as precise as they are for standard products. All UR products will be processed as standard products using the normal NISAR processing pipeline. UR products will be deleted after the standard products are available.

Certain data partners will be allowed to request NISAR acquisitions to be acquired as UR. Note that NISAR won’t acquire data that wouldn’t otherwise be acquired in response to events; the UR designation only assigns priority downlink and processing for acquisitions already in the NISAR acquisition plan.

Composite Release ID Table (CRID)

A Composite Release ID (CRID) is a unique identifier to provide provenance of the aggregate software and static input file versions used in the generation of a product granule.

CRIDRelease Date Manifest (.csv)Notes
P05012Mar  25, 2026 20:00:00 UTCDownload NISAR_LSAR_CRID_P05012.csv
Previous cycle prior to P05012 release was reprocessed with P05012 starting at 2026-03-11T00:23:02Z.
 
Release Changes:
  • L0B updates
    • Implement L0B modification provided by ADT to address qSFP sample slip
      • Update to accept coarse global dem, antenna pattern file, and INT_CAL files as inputs for new algorithm to address QSFP
      • Update L0B runconfig schema
    • Corrected L0B valid data mask
    • Correct dtype selection for split fields in lowRateTelemetry
    • Address certain L0B list index out of range Error
    • Address certain L0B stuck jobs and times out error (ISA 222507)
    • Address L0B ingestion failure due to metadata issue (Discarded Rangelines)
    • Correct dtype selection for split fields in lowRateTelemetry
    • DM2 updates per ADT requirements
    • Update compute_look_direction for ISCE3 update to get_total_grid
    • Fix low rate telemetry to use highest bit when fields are signed ints and not in bytes
    • Update compute_look_direction for ISCE3 update to get_total_grid
    • Update docker files and version for ISCE3 r05.01.2-v0.25.8
  • L1 and L2 updates:
    • Update docker files and version for ISCE3 r05.01.2-v0.25.8-1
      • ISCE3 r05.01.2-v0.25.8-1 is not an official git repo release.
      • This release pulled forward a single hotfix from eXperimental ISCE3 v0.25.10 to create a special operations version called ISCE3 r05.01.2-v0.25.8-1 to address a subtle frequency ID bookkeeping issue preventing RSLC generations for quasi-dual modes or mixed mode cases involving 77 MHz
    • L1_L2 runconfig schema updates in support of QSFP fix.
    • Fix phase offset caused by qFSP-H1 sample slip. Add a new module to compute residual RX channel imbalances, detect anomalies in received echoes (e.g., qFSP_H1 sample slip) where they are used as part of EAP in RSLC processing. Update antenna pattern module to use frequency band and caltone for proper synthesis of RX DBF pattern. This requires caltone frequency parser incorporated in Raw L0B parser.
    • Improve Raw parser with helper functions to parse chirp correlator and cal type properly by adding a support for cross-pol products as well as full polarimetric products for Quad-pol case that was wrong or missing. This fixes NEB in Quad-pol data
    • Update noise estimator module (NET) to handle QP properly with correct chirp correlator and cal type values. Also fix some potential biases in noise estimation due to dynamic CPI size in default MEE approach.
    • Update python API for noise estimator module used in RSLC to estimate NEB. The update adds support for QP w/ correct chirp correlator and cal type telemetry info and force CPI to stay as close as to the input value (or its maximum) for more robust noise power estimation across swath.
    • Update schema in InSAR workflow to allow for larger search window for ampcor module
    • Fix a bug in InSAR workflow in the estimation of ionospheric phase uncertainty
    • Fix a bug in GCOV/GSLC writer to ensure same data type for _FillValue to be the same as the dataset's data type
    • Fix bug in InSAR. Change the upsampling method from NN to bilinear in the rubbersheeting when interpolating the dense offsets to the size of input RSLC
    • Fix bug in amplitude cross correction module to allow for deramping with complex data. Fixing a pixel index error, using double precision for phase correction when deramping with complex data
    • Fix python crash on out of bounds array in LUT2D eval method. Check for out of bounds elements over input sequence before running. 
    • Fix bug in the shorter coverage of LUT datasets compared to the actual data. Add an extra margin to the RSLC LUT extents
    • Support new corner reflector CSV format and fixing a bug in computation of trihedral RCS
  • Ancillary data updates
    • INT_CAL and EXT_CAL updates
  • Parameter Set files:
    • Turn on EAP which is required for qFSP-H1 fix
    • Update the search radius for offset estimation. Now using double of search radius compared with the previous version. 
    • Adjust filter size for ionospheric phase filtering window size to avoid streaks in range direction 
  • PCM updates
    • Update to pass coarse global dem, antenna pattern file, and INT_CAL files as inputs files to L0B for their new algorithm to address QSFP
    • Update hysds core v6.1.1 to address hysds_ui bug that can prevent ondemand jobs ui working properly needed to process historical data 
    • New feature to allow operator to issue state config re-eval with different inputs like fidelity of FRP or NRP to allow reprocessing with lower fidelity for a given granule when NRP/PRP fails without having to reconfigure the entire system globally
    • Automated cleanup of NEN valid duplicate deliveries from ISL via S3 tagging and lifecycle rules
    • Fixed OpenSearch Dashboard shard monitoring not being populated due to Data in Transit authentication
    • Fixed closed-index protection for PIT queries in query.py; eliminated raw ES calls
X05010Feb 10, 2026 20:00:00 UTCDownload NISAR_LSAR_CRID_X05010
eXperimental Release
  • L0B: Update to L0B to handle some edge cases. There was a change made in R05.00.7 for how L0B handles the range line index that caused some of these jobs to fail when there is a bad rangeline in the beginning of the observations. L0B was updated to throw out that single bad rangeline​
  • PSF change: Fixed error in solid earth INSAR PSF files with duplicate phase_unwrap elements
X05009Feb 03, 2026 04:00:00 UTCDownload NISAR_LSAR_CRID_X05009
eXperimental Release
  • L0B: Address Antartica granule hanging due to a conflict with SELinux by ​backing out HDF5 cloud optimization introduced in R05.00.8 
  • PSF: Enable deletion of intermediary files for INSAR to avoid hanging in c5.4xlarge instance encountered in smoke-test of certain granules
X05008Jan 30, 2026 00:00:00 UTCDownload NISAR_LSAR_CRID_X05008
eXperimental Release
  • L0B: HDF5 cloud optimization added to L0B
  • L0B: Resolve PDS quaternion messages not decoded correctly
  • L0B: Resolve Exception cannot reindex on an axis with duplicate labels
  • L0B: Fix incorrect CRL_LEN and RL_START in the highRateTelemetry datasets
  • L0B: Correct scene_center_spacing when center frequency is 0
  • L0B: Support scientific notation for L0B PSF
  • L0B: Incorporate call to sub-pixel shifting script
  • L0B: Update valid sample mask to end at RL_STOP - RL_START + pad
  • RSLC: Minor improvement to RSLC writer to use the description of some datasets to match the baseline spec
  • INSAR: Minor improvement to InSAR writer to use the description of some datasets to match the baseline spec
  • INSAR: Fix a bug in GUNW product where the geogrid for wrapped phase is wrong. This impacts 77 MHz data.
  • INSAR: Add bridge algorithm to unwrap to improve phase unwrapping of Const PRF data
  • INSAR: Add subswath mask for ionosphere phase filtering
  • General: Fix API changes to Get/SetGeoTransform methods in GDAL 3.12
  • PSF: Enable the rubbersheeting over the Cryosphere region
  • PSF: Update STATIC link
  • PSF: Re-enable QA exceptions when Rubbersheeting is used
  • PSF: Update InSAR parameter for subswath mask and bridge algorithm
  • PSF: Update the number of looks for the crossmul and unwrap
X05007Jan. 1, 2026 01:18:00 UTCDownload NISAR_LSAR_CRID_X05007.csv
eXperimental Release
  • L0B: Sub-pixel shift correction
P05006Dec. 23, 2025 01:27:00 UTCDownload NISAR_LSAR_CRID_P05006.csv
  • L0B: Move left gap trimming after listing negative first Tx gap 
  • L0B: Update padding algorithm to match latest from ADT with np.floor
  • L0B: Correct scence_center_spacing when center freq is 0 (partial fix)
  • L0B: Swap WAVEGEN low rate TLM to be consistent with high rate TLM that is swapped with QP 
  • RSLC: Update RSLC schema parameter from block_size to wavelet_size
  • RSLC: Address decimating offset issue with frequencyB interferogram by reading slant ranges directly from the RSLC instead of RUNW to ensure proper alignment and accurate ionospheric estimation.
  • RSLC: science.LSAR.RSLC.metadata.processingInformation.inputs.l0bGranules changed to reflect the granule id of the L0B that was focused instead of the input file path used in the SDS processing system
  • INSAR: Output polarization of freq A and B into .met json for PCM to correctly determine cross polarizations
  • INSAR: Fix a bug in splitSpectrum for Quad-pol data when splitting main band (if needed)
  • INSAR: Add Polyfitting to compute the range and azimuth offsets for the fine resampling instead of rubbersheeting
  • Parameter Set Files (PSF) config: Updated config files for freq A/B for ionosphere estimate, offset parameters, and INSAR deramping methods
  • QA in General: Make each subgroup independently optional in QA schemas
P05000Oct. 16, 2025 13:06:00 UTCDownload NISAR_LSAR_CRID_P05000.csv
  • Updated TFdb (TrackFrame Database)
  • Update L0A_TE to exit gracefully if all L0A data is corrupt
  • Update RSLC to address large number of RSLC failures
  • Update RSLC NESZ explicit receive only Angeline index
  • Update GSLC to accept corner reflector
  • Update GCOV for bug fixes and improve GCOV products in Quad-pol modes
  • Update INSAR to add radar coordinates into products and improve ionosphere estimation
  • Update INSAR metadata
  • Update SME2 for bug fix of VWC input order, antimeradian crossing, private variable bug
  • Update SME2 to compute Local Incidence angle on the fly at coarser posting than input GCOV product
  • Update SME2 with TSR algorithm update with solver function for better solution space control, SMAP climatology data disaggregation using soil texture information, changed the condition for masking, and etc. to improve the output image quality
  • Update SME2 with DSG algorithm update with a static ancillary file input to read in the algorithm parameter (Beta) values instead of using a look up table. Note: The Beta values in the LUT is not optimal and will need to be updated in the future
  • Update SME2 to use the full name of the processing Type metadata in the product
  • NISAR L1/L2 QA fixes
P00410Sept. 9, 2025 10:39:00 UTCDownload NISAR_LSAR_CRID_P004010.csv
  • Update L0B PGE code to remove .h5 from granuleId under identification group
  • Update L0B to correctly set listOfRxPolarizations for partial Quasi QuadCorrect look direction case-sensitivity and platformName value
    Update L0B look direction algorithm to set the epoch for both the orbit and attitude
  • Update L0B to not use SP because Header-only values are not correct for SP
  • Update L0B to for DM1/DM2 to remove RL_START dependency for slant_range and padding, also handle change in DM2 number of samples
  • Update L0B to address Frequency B alignment issues
  • Added padding parameters for the gap positions in L0B runconfig
  • Add filter delay and receive_only parameters as optional parameters in L0B runconfig
  • Update L0B productSpecificationVersion to match PIX XML version
  • Update L0B to create multipolygon in met for non self intersecting polygons over international data line (IDL) to allow DAAC to interpret granule location correctly over IDL
P00408Aug. 16, 2025 00:00:00 UTCDownload NISAR_LSAR_CRID_P00408.csv
  • Hi-Res Range-Doppler Single-Look Complex (RSLC) update for phase jumps
  • L0B update for phase jump and 4th gaps
  • DC_RADAR updates to support variable taps in DBF along the range line and to update antenna parser to allow finer Elevation/Azimuth (EL/AZ) angular spacing when their cuts over all channels are requested
P00407
July 30, 2025 00:00:00 UTC
Download NISAR_LSAR_CRID_P00407.csvLaunch release
Glossary of Terms - Click on the arrow to open a table describing terminology used
Item NameItem TypeItem Description
CRIDComposite Release IDComposite Release ID (CRID) is a unique identifier to provide provenance of the aggregate software and static input file versions listed in generation of a product granule
SDSSDS releaseScience Data System (SDS) version used to generate given product.
PCMPCM SWProcessing Control & Data Management Subsystem (PCM) used to orchestrate product generation within a given SDS
L0A_L_PGEPGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of L0A_L_PGE
L0A_CCPGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of L0A_CC
L0A_TEPGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of L0A_TE
L0A_CC_TEPGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of L0A_CC_TE
LSAR_Time_ExtractorPGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of LSAR_Time_Extractor
L0B_L_PGEPGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of L0B_L_PGE
RSLC_L_PGE (l1_l2)PGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of RSLC_L_PGE
GSLC_L_PGE (l1_l2)PGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of GSLC_L_PGE
L2_L_GCOV (l1_l2)PGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of L2_LGCOV
InSAR_L_PGE (l1_l2)PGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of L2_InSAR_L_PGE
L3_L_SME2_PGEPGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of L3_L_SME2_PGE
DC_RADAR_PGEPGE SWProduct Generation Executable (PGE) version of DC_RADAR_PGE
ISCE3 (l0b)ISCE3 SWAlgorithm version in l0b pge
ISCE3 (l1_l2)ISCE3 SWAlgorithm version in l1_l2 pges
ISCE3 (SME2)ISCE3 SWAlgorithm version in SME2_pge
ISCE3 (DC_RADAR)ISCE3 SWAlgorithm version in DC_RADAR_pge
L0A_L_RRSTProduct VersionProduct version of generated L0A_L_RRST product
L0B_L_RRSDProduct VersionProduct version of generated L0B_L_RRSD product
L1_L_RSLCProduct VersionProduct version of generated L1_L_RSLC product
L2_L_GSLCProduct VersionProduct version of generated L2_L_GSLC product
L2_L_GCOVProduct VersionProduct version of generarted L2_L_GCOV product
L1_L_RIFGProduct VersionProduct version of generated L1_L_RIFG product
L1_L_RUNWProduct VersionProduct version of generated L1_L_RUNW product
L1_L_ROFFProduct VersionProduct version of generated L1_L_ROFF product
L2_L_GOFFProduct VersionProduct version of generated L2_L_GOFF product
L2_L_GUNWProduct VersionProduct version of generated L2_L_GUNW product
DC_RADARProduct VersionProduct version of generated DC_RADAR product
L3_L_SME2Product VersionProduct version of generated L3_L_SME2 product
PRODUCT_VERSIONStatic FilePRODUCT_VERSION file used by SDS to lookup Product Version for a given CRID and PGE, which is then populated in metadata of the product
LSAR Parameter SetStatic FileLSAR Parameter Set used by SDS to help populate runconfigs at runtime for a given product by specifying processing parameters for a PGE
DEMStatic FileDigital Elevation Model (DEM) file set is digital representation of terrain elevation for the NASA-ISRO NISAR mission used by RSLC_L_PGE, GSLC_LPGE, L2_L_GCOV, InSAR_L_PGE, and DC_RADAR_PGE. 
- EPSG 4326 is based on the Copernicus DEM 30-m (2023_1). 
- EPSG 3413 is based on the Copernicus DEM 30-m (2023_1), referenced to the WGS84 ellipsoid and projected over the NSIDC Sea Ice Polar Stereographic North coordinate system. 
- EPSG 3031 is based on the Copernicus DEM 30-m (2023_1), referenced to the WGS84 ellipsoid and projected over the Antarctic Polar Stereographic coordinate system.
LIAStatic FileLocal Incidence Angle (LIA) version set used by the SDS to generate SME2 products. A copy of this LIA data is embedded in the L2_L_STATIC set for convenience for users to find all static layers in one location.
Water MaskStatic FileWater Mask version set used by the SDS to generate RUNW/GUNW products. A copy of this water mask data is embedded in the L2_L_STATIC set for convenience for users to find all static layers in one location.
VWCStatic FileVegetation Water Content (VWC) version set used by the SDS to generate SME2 products.
L2_L_STATICStatic FileL2_L_STATIC version used to provide static layer content matching the geographical area of a product in a single convenient .h5 file for the user. Static layer content includes:
- digitalElevationModel
- layoverShadowMask
- localIncidenceAngle
- losUnitVectorX
- losUnitVectorY
- projection
- rtcGammaToBetaFactor
- rtcGammaToSigmaFactor
- waterMask
TFDBStatic FileTFDB version used by the SDS to generate RSLC products. The TFDB specifies the collection modes of the observations around over the globe, which is delineated by track and frame number in the database.
RADAR_MODE_LUTStatic FileRADAR_MODE_LUT version used by PCM to map RCID to Radar Mode short text populated in filename of RSLC product
Flight Table WaveformStatic FileFlight Table Waveform version used by L0B_L_PGE
Flight Table ParametersStatic FileFlight Table Parameters version used by L0B_L_PGE
ANTPATStatic FileANTPAT file used by the SDS to generate RSLC_L_PGE and DC_RADAR_PGE products.
BFPQStatic FileANTPAT file used by the SDS to generate L0B_L_PGE
L_CHAN_DATAStatic FileANTPAT file used by the SDS to generate L0B_L_PGE
LSAR_EXT_CALStatic FileLSAR_EXT_CAL version used by RSLC_L_PGE
LSAR_INT_CALStatic FileLSAR_INT_CAL version used by RSLC_L_PGE
TSR_STATICStatic FileTSR_STATIC used by L3_L_SME2
PMI_STATICStatic FilePMI_STATIC used by L3_L_SME2
SM_STATICStatic FileSM_STATIC used by L3_L_SME2

Instruments Aboard NISAR

Instrument Name Operational Date(s) Spectral Resolution Type of Instrument
NISAR L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (L-SAR) Imaging Radar
NISAR S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (S-SAR) Imaging Radar

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