UAVSAR PolInSAR and Tomographic Products for Natural Media Characterization

This paper demonstrates products for remote sensing of natural media using JPL's polarimetric interferometric UAVSAR instrument. It presents exemplary results and analyzes the possibilities and limitations of using SAR Tomography and Polarimetric SAR Interferometry (PolInSAR) techniques for the characterization of forests, bare surfaces, urban and agricultural areas. The results include vertical profiles of volumetric media, obtained from model-based PolInSAR inversion and tomographic imaging. Observing a time series of same-day acquisitions, the change of InSAR coherence with time indicates sensitivity to evapotranspiration processes and to the diurnal vegetation water content change cycle. The experimental results are based on JPL's L-band repeat-pass polarimetric interferometric UAVSAR data over temperate and tropical forest biomes, including the Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, USA, and the La Amistad International Park in Panama and Costa Rica.