Assessment of Scattering Mechanism of Polarimetric SAR Signal From Mountainous Forest Areas

This study aims to understand the effects of the topographic slope variation on the vegetation backscattering characteristics of polarimetric imaging radar. Most of the previous studies in modeling microwave backscattering signatures of vegetated area have been carried out over relatively flat areas. In order to model vegetation scattering mechanisms of mountainous forests, this paper presents an improvement of the radiative transfer model that accounts for the tilted scattering surface beneath a forest canopy. An L-band polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data set acquired by the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Airborne SAR system was used to test and to assess the vegetation scattering model for a sloping forest area. Experimental result shows the proposed model to be adequate for evaluating slope-induced changes in microwave scattering mechanisms.

[1]  Kamal Sarabandi,et al.  Michigan microwave canopy scattering model , 1990 .

[2]  R. Treuhaft,et al.  Vertical structure of vegetated land surfaces from interferometric and polarimetric radar , 2000 .

[3]  Wooil M. Moon,et al.  Estimation of soil moisture content from L- and P-band AirSAR data: A case study in Jeju, Korea , 2002 .

[4]  Adrian J. Luckman.  The effects of topography on mechanisms of radar backscatter from coniferous forest and upland pasture , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[5]  Thuy Le Toan,et al.  Relating forest biomass to SAR data , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[6]  Jakob J. van Zyl,et al.  The effect of topography on radar scattering from vegetated areas , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[7]  Elise Colin Koeniguer,et al.  Capabilities of a forest coherent scattering model applied to radiometry, interferometry, and polarimetry at P- and L-band , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[8]  Eric Pottier,et al.  A review of target decomposition theorems in radar polarimetry , 1996, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[9]  Kamal Sarabandi,et al.  A Monte Carlo coherent scattering model for forest canopies using fractal-generated trees , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[10]  Eric Pottier,et al.  An entropy based classification scheme for land applications of polarimetric SAR , 1997, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[11]  Kenneth J. Ranson,et al.  Disturbance recognition in the boreal forest using radar and Landsat-7 , 2003 .

[12]  R. Stephenson.  A and V , 1962, The British journal of ophthalmology.

[13]  Kamal Sarabandi,et al.  Electromagnetic scattering model for a tree trunk above a tilted ground plane , 1995, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[14]  J. Kong.  Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves , 2021, Principles of Scattering and Transport of Light.

[15]  Ya-Qiu Jin,et al.  Electromagnetic Scattering Modelling for Quantitative Remote Sensing , 1994 .

[16]  Mary C. Henry,et al.  The Sensitivity of SIR-C Backscatter to Fire-Related Forest Spatial Patterns , 2005 .

[17]  A. Fung.  Microwave Scattering and Emission Models and their Applications , 1994 .

[18]  K. Jon Ranson,et al.  Radar modeling of a boreal forest , 1991, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[19]  Stephen L. Durden,et al.  A three-component scattering model for polarimetric SAR data , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[20]  Juan M. Lopez-Sanchez,et al.  An electromagnetic scattering model for multiple tree trunks above a tilted rough ground plane , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[21]  Wooil M. Moon,et al.  Scattering of C-band RADARSAT signal on sloping Earth's surface affected by forest fire areas , 2002 .

[22]  F. Ulaby,et al.  Radar polarimetry for geoscience applications , 1990 .

[23]  M.A. Karam,et al.  Leaf-shape effects in electromagnetic wave scattering from vegetation , 1989, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[24]  Thomas L. Ainsworth,et al.  On the estimation of radar polarization orientation shifts induced by terrain slopes , 2002, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[25]  Thuy Le Toan,et al.  Dependence of radar backscatter on coniferous forest biomass , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[26]  Thomas L. Ainsworth,et al.  The Effect of Orientation Angle Compensation on Coherency Matrix and Polarimetric Target Decompositions , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[27]  Hiroyoshi Yamada,et al.  Four-component scattering model for polarimetric SAR image decomposition , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[28]  J. Zyl,et al.  Unsupervised classification of scattering behavior using radar polarimetry data , 1989 .