Classification of radar images in polarimetric remote sensing

This paper describes the use of polarimetric data for Earth terrain classification. The Cloude (1992) target decomposition theorem is applied to classify the scene into several classes having each one a distinct physical interpretation. The implemented algorithm, under its new version, uses two parameters, not often exploited in radar remote sensing, namely the entropy and a parameter linked to scattering mechanisms. The used data are polarimetric and multifrequency and are extracted from the Landes forest in France. The obtained results are satisfactory since one can understand the physical behavior of the wave when it is in contact with an obstacle