Early Results In Forest Conditions From a Single-Pass L-Band Airborne PolInSAR System

Abstract:
The creation of high quality Digital Surface Models (DSMs) using X-Band and C-Band InSAR is well established. However many applications require bare-earth Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) in the presence of forest canopy. L-Band is an attractive candidate, but the derived interferometric phase represents a combination of ground and volume scattering contributions from the canopy above. The use of PolInSAR techniques, and the Random Volume Over Ground (RVOG) Model has had considerable success in model inversion studies where the objective has been to extract tree height. A major problem for the robust application of this technique is the presence of temporal decorrelation, caused by the use of repeat-pass interferometry. In this paper we will present the first results obtained from tests in forested areas using an experimental airborne, single-pass, L-Band PolInSAR system. The primary objective will be to determine the quality of DTMs extracted beneath forest canopy in a range of forest conditions, in the absence of issues created by temporal decorrelation and uncompensated motion effects.