Calibration of Spaceborne Polarimetric SAR Data using Polarization Orientation

For ALOS/PALSAR in orbit, removal of not only polarimetric system distortion but also the effect of Faraday rotation is important. The author investigated a new calibration method using polarization orientation induced in build-up areas. Its fundamental concept is simple and is that two polarization orientation angles from two polarization combinations should be identical after calibration. This method is applied to simulated data that is distorted from JAXA L-band Pi-SAR data. An advantage of this method is that strong backscatters from buildup areas can be used to decrease an influence of noise.