Polarimetric radar data decomposition and interpretation

Significant efforts have been made to decompose polarimetric radar data into several simple scattering components. The components which are selected because of their physical significance can be used to classify SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) image data. If particular components can be related to forest parameters, inversion procedures may be developed to estimate these parameters from the scattering components. Several methods have been used to decompose an averaged Stoke's matrix or covariance matrix into three components representing odd (surface), even (double-bounce) and diffuse (volume) scatterings. With these decomposition techniques, phenomena, such as canopy-ground interactions, randomness of orientation, and size of scatters can be examined from SAR data. In this study we applied the method recently reported by van Zyl (1992) to decompose averaged backscattering covariance matrices extracted from JPL SAR images over forest stands in Maine, USA. These stands are mostly mixed stands of coniferous and deciduous trees. Biomass data have been derived from field measurements of DBH and tree density using allometric equations. The interpretation of the decompositions and relationships with measured stand biomass are presented in this paper.