Integrating polarimetric synthetic aperture radar and imaging spectrometry for wildland fuel mapping in southern California

Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and imaging spectrometry exemplify advanced technologies for mapping wildland fuels in chaparral ecosystems. In this study, we explore the potential of integrating polarimetric SAR and imaging spectrometry for mapping wildland fuels. P-band SAR and ratios containing P-band polarizations are sensitive to variations in stand age and vegetation cover for an area of chaparral in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. Mean P-HV/C-HV, averaged by stand age using a GIS fire history, is shown to increase with stand age. Vegetation cover maps produced from the Advanced Visible/Near Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) using Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) are compared with average P-HV/C-HV for hard chaparral, soft chaparral, and grassland cover types. Mean P-HV/C-HV is demonstrated to be higher for hard chaparral than for soft chaparral and grassland. Stratifying mean ratio-stand age classes by vegetation type reveals that the ratiostand age relationship is strongest for hard chaparral and weaker for soft chaparral and grassland. Problems with speckle, a characteristic inherent to SAR, will need to be overcome before direct fine-scale mapping of stand age and biomass in chaparral ecosystems can occur.

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