Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing

The Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) is a ground station that receives imagery data from a variety of remote sensing satellites. CSTARS is owned and operated by the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, a college within the University of Miami.

Overview

CSTARS is a state-of-the-art real-time satellite reception and analysis facility located in southern Miami-Dade county, Florida. Its mission is collect satellite imagery for environmental monitoring of hurricanes, volcanoes, landslides and other natural or man made disasters. [ [http://www6.miami.edu/miami-magazine/spring03/journal.html#ujstory6 "CSTARS yields new perspectives on Earth" Miami Magazine] ]

In 2000, the University of Miami purchased the US Naval Observatory Secondary National Time Standard Facility. The purchase included 78 acres of land with several buildings and a 20m antenna once used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry. [ [http://www.miami.edu/research/10oct2002.pdf "Research Notes" eVeritas] ] This large antenna is currently used to support scientific communications with the Antarctic (on behalf of the National Science Foundation). Two 11 meter X-band antennas were added to create a high bandwidth data reception capability for the downlink of satellite image data. Scientists and staff perform research and analysis activities on-site as well. [ [http://cstars.rsmas.miami.edu/about.html About CSTARS ] ]

The station mask covers a very large area stretching from the Hudson Bay in the north down to northern South America in the south. The mask includes Central America, the Eastern Pacific, the Caribbean Basin, the Gulf of Mexico and much of the Eastern US including Eastern Seaboard. [ [http://cstars.rsmas.miami.edu/coverage.html CSTARS Coverage Area] ]

CSTARS is located on the Richmond campus of the University of Miami. [ [http://cstars.rsmas.miami.edu/site_info.html CSTARS Site Information] ]

Hurricane Katrina Damage Assessment and Disaster Relief

CSTARS played a vital role in the damage assessment and relief efforts of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. [ [http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/info/soundings/2005/09/ Soundings Sep. 2005] ] The first remote sensing images illustrating the extent of the flooding in New Orleans were collected at CSTARS. [ [http://www.spotimage.fr/web/en/910-new-orleans-usa.php SPOT Imagery of New Orleans, Aug. 2005] ]

References