Comparing RADARSAT 2 and Terrasar-X quad-pol SAR imagery of grasslands

Quad-pol imagery from both Terrasar-X and RADARSAT- 2 were acquired over the grasslands of southern Alberta, Canada, in the early spring of 2010. Dates and incidence angles were as closely matched as was possible. Both sets of imagery showed qualitative agreement in spatial structure, but the Terrasar-X imagery was significantly less well defined with a much higher noise floor. The range of pixel values due to speckle noise, even after modest filtering, was large enough to mask any significant relationship between the two sources of imagery on a pixel-by-pixel basis.