Abstract

It is shown how radar scattering from vegetated areas is affected by the topography of the surface underneath the vegetation, and that by the use of a discrete scatterer model the dominant scattering mechanism may change drastically when the ground surface is tilted relative to the horizontal. In the case of a horizontal ground surface total scattering may be dominated by scattering off the tree trunks, followed by a reflection off the ground surface. It is shown that for a relatively small tilt in the ground surface the ground-trunk interaction term may be replaced by scattering from the branches alone as the dominant scattering mechanism. The effect of the topography is more pronounced for scattering by longer wavelengths. The implications for algorithms designed to infer forest woody biomass and soil and vegetation moisture using polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data are discussed.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.