Polarization signatures of frozen and thawed forests of varying biomass

Ronald Kwok, Jo Bea Way, Eric Rignot, Anthony Freeman, J. Holt

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

During two different overflights (by the JPL radar polarimeter) of the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, the environmental conditions changed significantly with temperatures ranging from unseasonably warm (1 to 9°C) to well below freezing (-8 to -15°C), and the moisture content of the snow and trees changed from a liquid to a frozen state. Preliminary investigations have focused on the characterization of the radiometric and polarimetric signatures of the data. Significant changes (up to 6 dB in certain forest stands) were observed in the L-band radar cross sections. Features extracted from the Stokes matrices of the same stands from the thawed and frozen days also suggest the relative contribution of the different scattering mechanisms to the radar return. Comparison of the diffuse component and variance of the H-V phase (white spruce, for example) indicates a relatively higher contribution from diffuse scatterers on the thawed day than on the frozen day. These results indicate that the contribution of scattering from the crown is responsible for this appreciable increase in backscatter. Some of these preliminary L-band and P-band observations are presented.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages337-340
Number of pages4
StatePublished - 1990
Externally publishedYes
Event10th Annual International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium - IGARSS '90 - College Park, MD, USA
Duration: May 20 1990May 20 1990

Other

Other10th Annual International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium - IGARSS '90
CityCollege Park, MD, USA
Period5/20/905/20/90

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science Applications
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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