Abstract

Detailed information on spatial distribution of wetland classes is crucial for monitoring this important productive ecosystem using advanced remote sensing tools and data. Although the potential of full- and dual-polarimetric (FP and DP) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data for wetland classification has been well examined, the capability of compact polarimetric (CP) SAR data has not yet been thoroughly investigated. This is of great significance, since the upcoming RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM), which will soon be the main source of SAR observations in Canada, will have CP mode as one of its main SAR configurations. This also highlights the necessity to fully exploit such important Earth Observation (EO) data by examining the similarities and dissimilarities between FP and CP SAR data for wetland mapping. Accordingly, this study examines and compares the discrimination capability of extracted features from FP and simulated CP SAR data between pairs of wetland classes. In particular, 13 FP and 22 simulated CP SAR features are extracted from RADARSAT-2 data to determine their discrimination capabilities both qualitatively and quantitatively in three wetland sites, located in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Seven of 13 FP and 15 of 22 CP SAR features are found to be the most discriminant, as they indicate an excellent separability for at least one pair of wetland classes. The overall accuracies of 87.89%, 80.67%, and 84.07% are achieved using the CP SAR data for the three wetland sites (Avalon, Deer Lake, and Gros Morne, respectively) in this study. Although these accuracies are lower than those of FP SAR data, they confirm the potential of CP SAR data for wetland mapping as accuracies exceed 80% in all three sites. The CP SAR data collected by RCM will significantly contribute to the efforts ongoing of conservation strategies for wetlands and monitoring changes, especially on large scales, as they have both wider swath coverage and improved temporal resolution compared to those of RADARSAT-2.

Highlights

  • Wetlands are regions where water is the main factor affecting the ecosystem and the associated flora and fauna [1]

  • The results indicate the superiority of the FP Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data compared to those of compact polarimetric (CP) in the three case studies

  • The most accurate result using CP SAR data was obtained for the Avalon study area, as more training data were available for this site compared to the other two pilot sites

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Summary

Introduction

Wetlands are regions where water is the main factor affecting the ecosystem and the associated flora and fauna [1]. In such an environment, the water table is either at or near to the land surface or the land surface is covered by shallow-water [2]. Wetlands serve a number of purposes, including water storage and purification, flood mitigation, storm protection, erosion control, shoreline stabilization, carbon dioxide sequestration, and climate regulation [3]. Several countries (163 nations as of January 2013), including Canada, have joined to the convention and demonstrated their commitments to wetland preservation

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