Physical Scattering Interpretation of POLSAR Coherency Matrix

Abstract:
The relative phase scattering matrix, [S], is characterized by three amplitudes and two relative phases. Relative phase dependencies can be well retrieved in the 3×3 coherency matrix [T]. The purpose of this paper is to exhaust the physical scattering interpretation of coherency matrix elements, which has not yet been realized completely. Based on the interpretation, 7-component scattering power decomposition is deduced, which is implemented on two dates ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 data sets, acquired over the Himalayan snow-covered region. Results of proposed decomposition verify that interpretation of new elements of coherency matrix provides the additional and better information of scattering mechanism as compared to existing decomposition.