Algebraic Synthesis of Forest Scenarios from Sar Data: Basic Theory and Experimental Results at P-band and L-band

This paper is focused on the recovery of the vertical structure of forested areas from multi-baseline and multipolarimetric SAR surveys at P-Band and L-Band. Results will be shown basing on both P-Band and L-Band airborne data relative to the forested areas within the Krycklan catchment, Norther Sweden, collected in the framework of the ESA campaign BioSAR 2008. The spaceborne case is also considered, basing on simulated BioMass data. The analysis has been carried out by exploiting the Algebraic Synthesis technique, recently introduced in literature, which bases on the joint exploitation of baseline and polarization diversity. Baseline diversity provides sensitivity to the vertical structure of the vegetation layer, resulting in the possibility to yield Tomographic reconstructions of forested areas. Yet, the synthesis yields far more information basing on the joint exploitation of baseline and polarization diversity, resulting in the decomposition of the SAR signal into groundonly and volume-only contributions. Ground-only contributions provide an easy and viable way to phase calibrate the data stack. Volume-only contributions, if correctly identified, allow a direct Tomographic imaging of the vegetation layer.