SAR foliage penetration phenomenology of tropical rain forest and northern US forest

Abstract

This paper presents synthetic aperture radar (SAR) foliage penetration phenomenology measurements of a tropical rain forest and a northern US forest. In May 1993, the Swedish National Defense Research Establishment (FOA) CARABAS sensor and the SRI International Ultra-Wideband SAR collected horizontal-transmit/horizontal-receive (HH) polarization VHF and UHF data, respectively, over the tropical rain forest at Fort Sherman, Panama. In mid-September 1993, both the FOA and SRI sensors collected HH-polarization VHF and UHF band data, respectively, over the forest in northern Maine. The collected data were processed into calibrated SAR imagery. HH foliage backscatter statistics were calculated for all frequency bands. HH foliage-induced attenuation for all frequency bands was calculated by comparing returns from test reflectors hidden by foliage with returns from open-field reflectors. Both backscatter and attenuation results are reported and compared with July 1990 UHF-, L-, and C-band measurements of the Maine site.