Monitoring grasslands with radarsat 2 quad-pol imagery

Radarsat 2 quad polarization imagery has been used to study the effectiveness of polarimetric radar to monitor the extent and health of prairie grasslands in southern Alberta, Canada. In this report of preliminary findings, the imagery is shown to be effective in the separation of cropped lands from rangelands, and in the separation of native grasslands and improved pastures. Classification was more accurate using Freeman-Durden decomposition parameters than using Cloude-Pottier parameters. Incidence angle differeces were noted and use of multiple angles in classification improved accuracy. In a second part of the study, it was shown that polarimetric imagery was capable of identifying weeds and brush growing in native rangland, and in separating different kinds of brush and weeds. Validated sample sets were too small to allow proper accuracy assessment, but a `performance metric´ showed that accuracy would be improved by use of multiple incidence angles, and by the use of Freeman-Durden or coherency matrix parameters.