Use of polarisation synthesis for deforestation studies based on SIR-C/XSAR data analysis

This paper addresses the use of polarisation synthesis techniques for deforestation studies, through the analysis of polarimetric data acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/XSAR (polarimetric L- and C- bands, X-band VV), in April and October 1994. For any basis of orthogonal polarisations, a collection of polarimetric discriminators is calculated. The following conclusions are derived : (1) The degree of coherence at C-band between HH and VV signals provides the best results for forest/non forest segmentation. (2) L-band HV is the more appropriate radar configuration for biomass estimation. (3) The use of circular polarised intensity signals enhances the roughness effect over bare soils surfaces.