When the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcano explosively erupted in Tonga in January, the world was captivated at first by the images returned from satellites in orbit. But it was the immediate images the general public largely did not see at first that proved far more useful in assessing conditions on the islands of the South Pacific nation in the immediate aftermath — when air travel was not possible.
And this is also true for most natural disasters, including the severe droughts, fires, and floods that have ravaged other parts of the world — in particular the Canadian province of British Columbia, an area — like most of the world — routinely monitored by the RADARSAT-2 and the RADARSAT Constellation SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) missions.