Remote Sensing of Vegetation by Polarimetric Space Interferometers

Over the last few years satellite remote sensing has become a standard tool for monitoring the properties and the evolution of vegetation on Earth. This book addresses primarily the role that polarimetric and interferometric radars play in forest remote sensing. The first two chapters introduce the basics of synthetic aperture radars and microwave scattering modeling. Chapter three treats the topic of polarimetric interferometry and presents a physical model of decorrelation that occurs in forest canopies observed by a repeat-pass radar interferometer. Chapter four deals with the topic of compact polarimetric-interferometry and examines the performance of this new imaging mode in contrast to full polarimetric interferometry. Finally, chapter five discusses the quality of polarimetric radar data and the algorithms for radiometric calibration and Faraday rotation estimation. The emphasis of the book is on the modeling aspects and the design of new algorithms. The book should be especially useful to radar engineers and ecosystem scientists who consider using polarimetric and interferometric techniques for the remote sensing of the terrestrial environment.

Autorentext

Marco Lavalle is a scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. He obtained a PhD in Telecommunication Engineering from University of Rome Tor Vergata and University of Rennes 1. His research activity focuses on the development of models, methods and technologies for terrestrial remote sensing.