The effect of surface roughness on multifrequency polarimetric SAR data

In this paper, multifrequency, polarimetric SAR data acquired during the second SIR-C/XSAR mission over the Matera (Italy) test site are analyzed. The main objective of the study is to assess the possibility of extracting relevant information about surface roughness using polarimetry. The methodolog...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing 1997-07, Vol.35 (4), p.954-966
Main Authors: Mattia, F., Le Toan, T., Souyris, J.-C., De Carolis, C., Floury, N., Posa, F., Pasquariello, N.G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Backscatter
Contracts
Data mining
Geology
Polarization
Rough surfaces
Soil moisture
Surface roughness
Testing
Weather forecasting
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Summary:In this paper, multifrequency, polarimetric SAR data acquired during the second SIR-C/XSAR mission over the Matera (Italy) test site are analyzed. The main objective of the study is to assess the possibility of extracting relevant information about surface roughness using polarimetry. The methodology is expected to be of interest either for deriving maps of surface roughness or for setting up soil moisture retrieving procedure based on a preliminary estimation of soil roughness. After a description of ground data, experimental, and theoretical backscattering coefficients are investigated. In a further step, the dependence of copolarized correlation coefficient on the roughness and moisture states is addressed. In order to investigate the polarization effect, the correlation coefficient is described for any set of orthogonal polarizations. The results indicate an enhanced sensitivity of the correlation coefficient on roughness using circular polarizations. The analysis is subsequently extended to additional data sets acquired in the frame of SIR C/XSAR experiment (Les Landes forest, France) and AIRSAR experiment (Chickasha, USA). These further investigations confirm the trend observed on Matera data.
ISSN:0196-2892
1558-0644
DOI:10.1109/36.602537