Simulations of ionospheric effects on SAR at P-band

There has been an increasing interest in the use of space-borne SAR for measuring forest biomass which requires the use of longer wavelengths for enhanced foliage penetration. However, the propagation characteristics of the wave will be seriously affected by the ionosphere, especially below P-band (500 MHz). In this paper, two numerical models are developed. The first model investigates the degradation of the SAR image due to large-scale changes of the electron density. Two cases are investigated, and a significant degradation of the SAR resolution due to the ionosphere is observed in our simulation. The second model simulates the ray-bending effects on the SAR system. Our result shows a significant image shift at P-band.