Forest Height Inversion Using Dual-pol Polarimetric SAR Interferometry

Abstract

Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (PolInSAR) has been extensively applied for forest parameter inversion over different frequencies and polarimetric conditions. So far, most research was based on full-pol SAR images with relatively small coverage. A spaceborne SAR system will have the potential for PolInSAR applications used for global forest monitoring. Spaceborne dual-pol SAR images usually have higher resolution and larger swath than full-pol mode. In this paper, forest height retrieval was attempted by PolInSAR from a L-band spaceborne dual-pol SAR pairs using HH and HV channels. The random volume over ground (RVoG) model was used to retrieve the height and the coherence optimization method was extended to the dual-pol PolInSAR, which makes use of polarimetry to enhance the quality of SAR interferograms. The three-stage process is also used in the dual-pol PolInSAR technique. Finally, the experimental test was performed for forest height estimation on the dual-pol L-band SAR data of the Saihanba forest acquired by the ALOS PALSAR sensor in 2009.