On the use of the polarization information for ice storm tree damage assessment in the Ottawa region

During January, 1998 an unusual and devastating series of ice storms occurred in eastern Ontario and western Quebec. Many forested areas in both these provinces were seriously damaged and sustained severe structural changes which ranged from loss of limbs to being bent horizontally to the ground. The impact on the forests varied from moderate to severe and was usually a function of tree type, and the local severity of the ice storms. In this paper, an investigation is made into the possibility of using the polarization information for classification of damaged forest areas. Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data were collected over a scene in the Ottawa region with the Department of the Environment Convair-580. Reference point targets were deployed during the flight, and used to calibrate the four measured linear polarizations (HH, VV, HV, and VH) in magnitude and phase. Ground truth data were collected in the field and from a helicopter flight.