Investigation of Polarimetric L-band ALOS2 and UAVSAR, and P-band AIRMOSS for Permafrost Characterization along the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway

The potential of long penetrating L-band SAR (ALOS2 and UAVSAR) and very long penetrating P-band AIRMOSS are investigated for permafrost characterization along the Innuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) corridor and surrounding environment. The dominant and medium scattering phases generated by the Touzi decomposition [1] are investigated for optimum polarimetric SAR information extraction. It is shown that the medium scattering type phase, ϕ
s2
, performs better than the dominant scattering type phase, ϕ
s1
, for subsurface permafrost mapping. The excellent NESZ (-37 dB) capabilities of ALOS2 and its accurate calibration permits the detection of relatively deep permafrost (up to 60 cm). These results are confirmed with the polarimetric L-band airborne UAVSAR of excellent NESZ (-48 dB). The very long penetrating capabilities of the P-band polarimetric AIRMOSS and its excellent NESZ (-48 dB) should permit detection and characterization of deeper permafrost.