Preliminary results from the MAESTRO 1 Campaign over the Black Forest

The Joint Research Center (JRC) Ispra and the European Space Agency (ESA) have co-sponsored the deployment of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), C-, L-, and P-band polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in Europe in mid-August 1989. This deployment represents the first opportunity for European agencies and institutes to evaluate the current state of the art of multifrequency polarimetric imaging technology over European Test Sites. Of particular interest to the Joint Research Center (JRC) Ispra is the Black Forest Test Site at Freiburg in the Federal Republic of Germany. This Test Site incorporates the Villingen region of the Black Forest to the south-west of Germany. This paper reports upon the activities undertaken in preparation for the MAESTRO 1 Campaign in the Black Forest Test Site. In particular this paper reports upon the ground data collection campaign for the Freiburg Test Site where extensive and intensive ground data measurements were undertaken. These measurements were based upon standard ground data collection protocols developed for forestry by the JRC and utilized throughout Europe for the MAESTRO 1 Campaign. The paper then goes on to present preliminary results derived from the SAR data using the JRC-developed software for polarimetric data interpretation, POLTOOL.