Forest mapping and monitoring with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR)

A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is an active sensor transmitting pulses of polarized electromagnetic waves and receiving the backscattered radiation. SAR sensors at different wavelengths and with different polarimetric capabilities are being used in remote sensing of the earth. The value of an analysis of backscattered energy alone is limited due to ambiguities in the possible ecological factor configurations causing the signal. From two SAR images taken from similar viewing positions with a short time-lag, interference between the two waves can be observed. By subtracting the two phases of the signals, it is feasible to eliminate the random contribution of the scatterers to the phase. The interferometric correlation and the interferometric phase contain additional information on the three-dimensional structure of the scattering elements in the imaged area. A brief review of SAR sensors is given, followed by an outline of the physical foundations of SAR interferometry and the practical data-processing steps involved. An overview of applications of InSAR to forest mapping and monitoring is given, covering tree-bole volume and biomass, forest types and land cover, fire scars, forest thermal state and forest canopy height.

[1]  John A. Richards,et al.  The effect of changing environmental conditions on microwave signatures of forest ecosystems - Preliminary results of the March 1988 Alaskan aircraft SAR experiment , 1990 .

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

[3]  Howard A. Zebker,et al.  Decorrelation in interferometric radar echoes , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[4]  Howard A. Zebker,et al.  New approaches in interferometric SAR data processing , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[5]  Anthony Freeman,et al.  SAR calibration: an overview , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[6]  A. Laurence Gray,et al.  Repeat-pass interferometry with airborne synthetic aperture radar , 1993, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[7]  Søren Nørvang Madsen,et al.  Topographic mapping using radar interferometry: processing techniques , 1993, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[8]  Kyle McDonald,et al.  Evaluating the type and state of Alaska taiga forests with imaging radar for use in ecosystem models , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[9]  R. Bamler,et al.  Phase statistics of interferograms with applications to synthetic aperture radar. , 1994, Applied optics.

[10]  Jong-Sen Lee,et al.  Intensity and phase statistics of multilook polarimetric and interferometric SAR imagery , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[11]  Charles Werner,et al.  Accuracy of topographic maps derived from ERS-1 interferometric radar , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[12]  Howard A. Zebker,et al.  Mapping the world's topography using radar interferometry: the TOPSAT mission , 1994, Proc. IEEE.

[13]  A. J. Wilkinson,et al.  Improvements in phase unwrapping algorithms for interferometric SAR , 1994 .

[14]  G. B. Groom,et al.  Relationships between physical characteristics and polarimetric radar backscatter for Corsican pine stands in Thetford Forest, U.K. , 1994 .

[15]  Urs Wegmüller,et al.  SAR interferometric signatures of forest , 1995, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[16]  S. Quegan,et al.  A statistical description of polarimetric and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data , 1995, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[17]  Søren Nørvang Madsen,et al.  Analysis and evaluation of the NASA/JPL TOPSAR across-track interferometric SAR system , 1995, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[18]  Guoqing Sun,et al.  Boreal forest ecosystem characterization with SIR-C/XSAR , 1995, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[19]  Nikolaus Faller,et al.  First results with the airborne single-pass DO-SAR interferometer , 1995, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[20]  Mahta Moghaddam,et al.  Analysis of scattering mechanisms in SAR imagery over boreal forest: results from BOREAS '93 , 1995, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[21]  Marc L. Imhoff,et al.  Radar backscatter and biomass saturation: ramifications for global biomass inventory , 1995, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[22]  F. H. van Eemeren,et al.  Analysis and evaluation , 1995 .

[23]  Lars M. H. Ulander,et al.  Repeat-pass SAR interferometry over forested terrain , 1995, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[24]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  Image registration in interferometric SAR processing , 1995 .

[25]  J. L. van Genderen,et al.  SAR interferometry : issues, techniques, applications , 1996 .

[26]  R K Goyal,et al.  Mathematical formulation for estimation of baseline in synthetic aperture radar interferometry , 1996 .

[27]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  Interferometric SAR phase unwrapping using Green's formulation , 1996, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[28]  Lars M. H. Ulander,et al.  Radiometric slope correction of synthetic-aperture radar images , 1996, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[29]  Eric Rignot.  Dual-frequency interferometric SAR observations of a tropical rain-forest , 1996 .

[30]  Didier Massonnet,et al.  JERS-1 SAR image quality and interferometric potential , 1996, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[31]  Mark D. Pritt,et al.  Phase unwrapping by means of multigrid techniques for interferometric SAR , 1996, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[32]  M. Moghaddam,et al.  Vegetation characteristics and underlying topography from interferometric radar , 1996 .

[33]  IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 34. NO. 4, JULY 1996 Universal Multifractal Scaling of Synthetic , 1996 .

[34]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  SIR‐C/X‐SAR multifrequency multipass interferometry: A new tool for geological interpretation , 1996 .

[35]  F. Webb,et al.  Surface deformation and coherence measurements of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, from SIR C radar interferometry , 1996 .

[36]  D. Mcdiarmid,et al.  Contributions of amplitude and phase modulation to geomagnetic pulsation phase and spectrum , 1996 .

[37]  Dorothy K. Hall,et al.  Snow parameters derived from microwave measurements during the BOREAS winter field campaign , 1997 .

[38]  Eric Rignot,et al.  Winter and Spring Thaw as Observed with Imaging Radar at BOREAS , 1997 .

[39]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  Interferometric SAR phase unwrapping using the finite element method , 1997 .

[40]  P. Rosen,et al.  Atmospheric effects in interferometric synthetic aperture radar surface deformation and topographic maps , 1997 .

[41]  Urs Wegmüller,et al.  Retrieval of vegetation parameters with SAR interferometry , 1997, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[42]  Kamal Sarabandi.  Δk-radar equivalent of interferometric SAR's: a theoretical study for determination of vegetation height , 1997, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[43]  M. Dobson,et al.  The use of Imaging radars for ecological applications : A review , 1997 .

[44]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  Global and local phase-unwrapping techniques: a comparison , 1997 .

[45]  Guoqing Sun,et al.  Mapping of boreal forest biomass from spaceborne synthetic aperture radar , 1997 .

[46]  Lars M. H. Ulander,et al.  C-band repeat-pass interferometric SAR observations of the forest , 1997, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[47]  Konstantinos Papathanassiou,et al.  A new technique for noise filtering of SAR interferometric phase images , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[48]  C. Werner,et al.  Radar interferogram filtering for geophysical applications , 1998 .

[49]  Konstantinos P. Papathanassiou,et al.  Polarimetric SAR interferometry , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[50]  Antonio Moccia,et al.  DEM generation by means of ERS tandem data , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[51]  Yuhsyen Shen,et al.  Future NASA spaceborne SAR missions , 1998 .

[52]  Søren Nørvang Madsen,et al.  EMISAR: an absolutely calibrated polarimetric L- and C-band SAR , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[53]  Howard A. Zebker,et al.  Phase unwrapping algorithms for radar interferometry: residue-cut, least-squares, and synthesis algorithms , 1998 .

[54]  Henri Maître,et al.  Improving phase unwrapping techniques by the use of local frequency estimates , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[55]  M. Honzak,et al.  Tropical Forest Biomass Density Estimation Using JERS-1 SAR: Seasonal Variation, Confidence Limits, and Application to Image Mosaics , 1998 .

[56]  Mario Costantini,et al.  A novel phase unwrapping method based on network programming , 1998, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[57]  Gianfranco Fornaro,et al.  A two-dimensional region growing least squares phase unwrapping algorithm for interferometric SAR processing , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[58]  S. D'ella,et al.  DESCW: PC SOFTWARE SUPPORTING REMOTE SENSING DATA , 1999 .

[59]  Adrian Luckman,et al.  Microwave observations of boreal forests in the NOPEX area of Sweden and a comparison with observations of a temperate plantation in the United Kingdom , 1999 .

[60]  Patrik B. G. Dammert,et al.  Unsupervised segmentation of multitemporal interferometric SAR images , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[61]  Sylvia A. Johnson,et al.  Mapping the World , 1999 .

[62]  Alfonso Farina,et al.  A fast phase unwrapping algorithm for SAR interferometry , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[63]  Luciano Vieira Dutra,et al.  Feature extraction and selection for ERS-1/2 InSAR classification , 1999 .

[64]  Wei Xu,et al.  A region-growing algorithm for InSAR phase unwrapping , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[65]  Kamal Sarabandi,et al.  Retrieval of forest parameters using a fractal-based coherent scattering model and a genetic algorithm , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[66]  Igor Lyuboshenko,et al.  Phase unwrapping for interferometric synthetic aperture radar by use of Helmholtz equation eigenfunctions and the first Green’s identity , 1999 .

[67]  Z Wang,et al.  Phase unwrapping through a branch-cut-based cut-bridging and window-patching method. , 1999, Applied optics.

[68]  Fuk K. Li,et al.  Synthetic aperture radar interferometry , 2000, Proceedings of the IEEE.