Comparison of L and C band polarimetric SAR data for the retrieval of soil moisture in the Alps

Abstract

This work is developed in the framework of the SOFIA project (ESA AO-6280) which aims at estimating important biophysical variables in the Alpine area by using advanced state of the art retrieval methods in combination with new generation satellite polarimetric SAR data. As a first analysis in this direction, in a previous contribution we investigated the effectiveness of fully polarimetric RADARSAT2 C-band SAR data and proposed the use of the Support Vector Regression technique and the integration of additional information on the investigated area obtained from ancillary data. In this paper we move the attention on the exploitation of L-band SAR data. In more detail, our analysis aims at: 1) assessing the effectiveness of the proposed retrieval algorithm with different satellite SAR data, namely the L-band data; 2) comparing the estimates obtained with the use of C- and L-band SAR imagery, in order to understand common patterns and eventually discrepances due to the different penetration capability of the signals; and 3) understanding the feasibility of a synergic use of L and C band SAR data (when both available) for improving the retrieval of soil moisture in Alpine areas. The experimental analysis is carried out with the use of polarimetric RADARSAT2 (C-band) and ALOS PalSAR (L-band) SAR data. The achieved results indicate the potential of the synergic use of C and L band SAR imagery for the retrieval of soil moisture also in the challenging alpine environment. This feature is properly exploited by the proposed retrieval algorithm, thus pointing out its effectiveness in handling data with different spatial and radiometric characteristics.