Polarimetric and interferometric SAR calibration verification methods

It is necessary to calibrate SAR data in order to use the data for science applications. When both polarimetric and interferometric data are collected simultaneously, these SAR data can be used for cross-calibration and verification. The frequency of polarimetric and interferometric data does not have to be the same for this purpose. For example, the NASA/JPL AIRSAR system can acquire C-band interferometric data and L-band polarimetric data simultaneously. The radiometric calibration of polarimetric data can be improved using the local slope information obtained from SAR interferometry. The accuracy of geophysical parameter estimation may be enhanced using true incidence angles derived from SAR interferometry. The calibration of interferometric SAR data can be verified by examining interferometric correlation coefficients. Both azimuth and range slopes estimated from an interferometric SAR DEM can be used to examine the polarization calibration accuracy. In this paper, we show several examples of cross-calibration verification between polarimetric and interferometric SAR data.