ALOS-PALSAR image simulation in various polarization bases

The ALOS-PALSAR is the first L-band space-borne SAR in the world equipped with a fully polarimetric data taking function. For the data utilization purpose, the authors have examined the polarimetric performance (scattering matrix and resultant images) over the Toyano area, Niigata City, Japan, using the airborne Pi-SAR radar. Since the resolution will be 20 m by 20 m on the ground surface by PALSAR, the Pi-SAR data (3 m by 3 m) are ensembled to be an equivalent size for ALOS-PALSAR image simulation. The polarimetric characteristics of terrain including paddy-fields, grass-fields, residential areas, etc., were examined to show the difference in the right-left polarization handedness basis and coherency vector, three-component scattering model, and polarimetric entropy.