Analysis of Radarsat Constellation Mission Compact Polarimetric Data for Crop Monitoring

The compact polarimetric (CP) product of RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) launched by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has wide swath and high temporal resolution which helps in continuous agriculture monitoring. Here, we evaluated the potential of RCM CP SAR product in ScanSAR mode to monitor different crops during the phenological cycle. For this study, we have selected the agriculture fields belonging to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada. We derived various CP parameters such as Stokes parameters, m-chi decomposition, CP Radar Vegetation Index (CpRVI), degree of polarization (DoP), conformity etc., from the RCM CP data. We analyzed their capabilities for crop monitoring with the help of in-situ measurements collected during the intensive field campaign conducted in summer 2022 and 2023. The results are analyzed considering strong effects of incidence angle on the CP parameters during the phenological cycle.