Radiometric Issues in Biomass Tomographic Imaging

SAR tomography is a powerful tool for analyzing forested environments. ESA seventh Earth Explorer BIOMASS will be the first spaceborne tomographic mission at P-band returning three dimensional reconstruction of the tropical vegetation. The backscattered intensity coming from specific depths inside the forest layer can be effectively related to biophysical parameters as tree height or biomass amount. Biomass estimates are very sensitive to power fluctuations in the measurements that, therefore, have to be minimized. In this work, the tomographic power fluctuations induced by irregular acquisitions and missing images are addressed. Compensation strategies are presented and their effectiveness is demonstrated using real data gathered on tropical forests.