Temporal and spatial characteristics of irrigated rice in JERS-1 L-band SAR data

Multi-temporal JERS-1 SAR (Japanese Earth Resource Satellite 1 Synthetic Aperture Radar) data have been used in this study to investigate the temporal and spatial characteristics of irrigated rice in LHH-band SAR data. The two test sites chosen represent areas that are characterized by manual and mechanical planting practices that turn out to have a significant effect on the L-band backscatter. The results show a clear relationship between L-band backscatter and plant growth in manually planted areas. A dynamic range of about 8dB has been measured with no apparent saturation of the signal. Areas in which mechanical planting is practiced, however, display a more complex relationship where the radar response is strongly dependent on parameters related to the spatial distribution of the plants. The backscatter displays a strong dependency on planting orientation and plant spacing, where fields planted in the radar illumination direction with a certain plant spacing display extreme dynamic ranges of up to mor...