Crop scattering analysis of L-band PolSAR data for vegetation and soil monitoring

Next L-band fully polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) missions will provide meaningful and timely data over large agricultural areas. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the potential of L-band PolSAR (SAR polarimetry) for crop monitoring using incoherent target decomposition theorems applied to PolSAR data from the NASA/JPL UAVSAR airborne system over Canada. Polarimetric parameters Entropy, Mean Alpha Angle and Anisotropy are related to soil and vegetation water content, plant structure parameters (height and diameter) and the water distribution on the different plant parts (leaves, trunks, etc). Results are expected to contribute to the quantitative retrieval of physical parameters over croplands.