Multi-baseline airborne Pol-InSAR measurements for the estimation of scattering processes within vegetation media

Interferometric decomposition permits the identification of arbitrary scattering mechanisms in two interferometric SAR images and the optimisation of the interferometric coherence, using mathematically independent phase centres related to these scattering mechanisms. Polarimetric SAR interferometry (Pol-InSAR) is sensitive to the distribution of oriented objects in vegetation layers. It has been demonstrated that the calculated scattering mechanisms have different vertical loci that can be related to certain vegetation structures. Additionally, theoretical models allow for the reconstruction of the quasi-three-dimensional spatial distribution of such scattering mechanisms within multi-layer morphologies and the derivation of vegetation-related physical parameters. The paper presents an evaluation of a coherent Pol-InSAR scattering model using simulations based on the configuration of a real airborne experiment. This experiment provides multi-baseline L-band scattering matrices acquired by the DLR experimental SAR system (E-SAR).