Synergy of optical and microwave remote sensing data for geoscientific applications in arid environments

The synergetic approach of optical and microwave remote sensing data has become a new dimension, due to the availability of different sensor systems for Earth observation. In geoscientific remote sensing the extraction of specific parameters as components of rocks and soils, grainsize, moisture, surface roughness and in addition morphological features is an important goal for an advanced interpretation of lithological, pedological and structural phenomena. The synergetic use of optical and radar sensors improves the separation of the units clearly due to the combined use of different observation principles. The applicability of spectral bands in the visible and infrared region and the microwave region has to be investigated. Beside the petrographical and geochemical informations extracted from optical data using, for example, specific absorption features, this integrated data set includes physical information like roughness and dielectricity from SAR data