Comparisons Of Theoretical Surface Scattering Models For Polarimetric Microwave Remote Sensing

Abstract

The Maestro-1 campaign, which was jointly sponsored by ESA and JRC in August 1989, collected SAR data over four European test sites. During the days of the flights, an extensive ground data collection took place for soil, agriculture, and forest parameters on the different test sites. The polarimetric SAR data of the test site “Flevoland” in the Netherlands are used for comparisons with results obtained from theoretical models for rough surface scattering. These models, describing the conventional backscattering coefficients, are extended to include the full polarimetric elements of the covariance matrix. A comparison is given between the theoretical prediction in L- and C-band with the measured backscattering coefficients. Furthermore the mean and standard deviation of the polarimetric correlation factor are shown to carry supplementary information and are used for classification and retrieval of geophysical parameters from bare soil fields.