Monitoring Inundation Dynamics in Paraná River, Argentina, by C and L Band SAR

This paper analyses the SAR response of wetland ecosystems under different environmental conditions and at two different frequencies. We exploited the opportunity of observing the same inundation phenomena by two currently available SAR systems, such as ENVISAT ASAR (C band) and ALOS PALSAR (L band). The results obtained for C band are similar to the ones reported previously in the same area. Increasing water level in marshes is characterized by an increase and then a decrease in the backscattering coefficient of vegetation. An increase when water level changes the soil from saturated to flooded condition and a decrease when the water covers the vegetation. The new ALOS PALSAR L band results shows that in marshes, the increase in water level is seen as a decrease in the backscattering coefficient, since the reduction of emerged biomass reduces the available matter for the wave to interact with.