Test of equi-scattering mechanisms for POLInSAR applications with TanDEM-X

Several POLInSAR methodologies are based on the concept of polarimetric and interferometric coherence [1]. Many of them assume the scattering mechanisms observed at the two interferometric acquisitions are the same (i.e. equi-scattering mechanism, ESM). However, if the scatterers change, different approaches must be employed. In order to select the appropriate set of algorithms, a test of target stability should be performed as pre-processing. The authors already devel oped a polarimetric change detector [2], based on perturbation analysis. In the present paper, the change detector and the parameterization introduced in [2] are modified in order to perform the ESM test on dual polarimetric TanDEM-X data. Unfortunately, TanDEM-X data were not available at the mo ment of compiling this paper, so the algorithm was tested on TerraSAR-X HHIVV images.