X-SAR COSMO-SKYMED MISSION AND ITS SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS IN THE FIELD OF EARTH'S OBSERVATIONS: SOME TOPICS CONCERNING THE COMBINATIONS OF THE OBSERVATIONS ACHIEVED WITH OTHER TECHNIQUES

The Italian Space Agency (ASI Agenzia Spaziale Italiana) funded 27 scientific projects in the framework of COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) program. A subset of them focused on the improvements of the quality and quantity of information which can be extracted from X-SAR data if integrated with other independent techniques (GPS, data and imagery in other bands and wavelengths). The paper summarizes the results obtained from same of these projects and, in particular, regarding: - the use of GPS observations and Numerical Weather Models (NWM) to remove atmospheric artifacts from InSAR imagery so improving the CSK potentialities in the field of topographic mapping; - the integration of SAR data in X, L and C bands to improve snow cover monitoring and glaciers detection; - the use of X-SAR data to retrieve rain precipitation and its validation with C-band radar observations; - the improvements of the focusing techniques.