Evaluation of JERS-1, ERS-1 and Almaz SAR backscatter for rubber and oil palm stands in West Malaysia

Abstract While many reports have been published on radar backscatter characteristics of coniferous and deciduous forests, little work appears to have been done on investigating the backscatter properties of palm trees. In this study, Japanese JERS-1 L HH band, European ERS-1 C VV band and Russian Almaz-1B S HH band SAR data have been acquired over parts of Kedah and Penang states in West Malaysia in order to investigate the radar backscatter properties for oil palms and rubber trees for each of these sensors. Results show that the radar backscatter for the deciduous rubber trees, for both JERS-1 and ERS-1, appear to behave in accordance with what has been reported earlier for coniferous and deciduous trees, that is, scattering on trunks, branches and twigs at L-band and scattering in the canopy at C-band. The JERS-1 backscatter shows limited correlation with the rubber growth while no relation is found in the ERS-1 data. Oil palms with their characteristic structures affect the radar signal differently co...