Study of the polarization behavior of complex natural and man-made clutter at middle and grazing angles

A special mapping mission using an aircraft synthetic aperture radar (SAR) was conducted at an airport near a large metropolitan area to characterize the clutter found in association with airports and surrounding areas. These data were obtained to support the building of a simulator for design of future generation radars which will operate from commercial aircraft to detect meteorological features. In addition, these data document the polarization and angular response behavior for a radar parameter region and clutter environment rarely studied. Polarization and angle response behaviors are linked to land use patterns, a topic of increasing importance for rapidly developing communities and countries with large land area