The contribution of trunk-ground interactions to the SAR backscatter from a coniferous forest

The overall SAR backscatter from forest targets can be viewed as arising from contributions due to surface scattering, volume scattering and double-bounce scattering from tree trunks and ground The paper demonstrates the presence of double bounce scattering in P-band AIRSAR imagery of a coniferous forest on mountainous terrain in the UK by examining the backscattering coefficient and copolarised phase difference as a function of trunk-ground angle. The high sensitivity of double-bounce scatter to trunk-ground angle as predicted by scattering models is confirmed although for this test site the proportional contribution of this mechanism is lower than that suggested by other studies.