A case study of scattering characteristics detection using polsar data in Northwest arid China

Paleoshorelines are excellent indicators for lake level fluctuation during lake desiccation. Understanding the scattering mechanisms of paleoshorelines and inner basin is of great significance to comprehend the formation and evolution of arid environment. Full polarization acquisition can enhance the radar capability in scattering mechanism understanding and parameters retrieval. In this study, fully polarimetric Radarsat-2 image and two target decomposition techniques were used to investigate the scattering mechanisms in arid Juyanze for the first time. Results indicate that the scattering mechanisms in this region are complex. Paleoshorelines and the inner basin present simpler scattering mechanism than those of marginal areas based on parameters analysis of entropy, average alpha angle and anisotropy derived from Cloude decomposition. Both decomposition techniques have comparable ability to express subsurface features, while Cloude model presents better ability to decompose the dihedral scattering component compared with Freeman-Durden model.