Retrieval of stem volume in coniferous forest from low VHF-band SAR

Author

Ulander, Lars M H ; Askne, Jan ; Fransson, Johan E S ; Gustavsson, Anders ; Toan, Thuy Le ; Manninen, Terhikki ; Martinez, Jean-Michel ; Melon, Pierre ; Smith, Gary ; Walter, Fredrik

Author_Institution

Swedish Defence Res. Establ., Linkoping, Sweden

Volume

1

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Firstpage

441

Abstract

Retrieval of forest stem volume using SAR in the lower VHF-band holds great promise. The basic idea is that coniferous trees behave as Rayleigh scatterers with a backscatter proportional to stem volume. In the paper, measurements using the CARABAS SAR at five different test sites are compared. The authors conclude that backscatter on horizontal ground indeed has a simple linear relation with stem volume. No signs of saturation is found up to 1000 m³/ha. The proportionality factor is however slightly dependent on ground reflection coefficient. The paper also evaluates temporal stability using repeat-tracks. High repeatability is found after 1 hour (R²=99%) and 20 months (R ²=91%) implying good system and scene stability

Keywords

backscatter; forestry; geophysical techniques; radar cross-sections; remote sensing by radar; synthetic aperture radar; vegetation mapping; SAR; VHF-band; backscatter; biomass; coniferous forest; coniferous tree; forestry; geophysical measurement technique; radar remote sensing; radar scattering; stem volume; synthetic aperture radar; tree trunk; vegetation mapping; Biomass; Carbon dioxide; Forestry; Frequency; Protocols; Rayleigh scattering; Remote sensing; Space technology; Stability; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2000. Proceedings. IGARSS 2000. IEEE 2000 International

Conference_Location

Honolulu, HI

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6359-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2000.860558

Filename

860558