Publication: Analysis of dual- and full-circular polarimetric SAR modes for rice phenology monitoring: An experimental investigation through ground-based measurements
Date
2017
Authors
Izumi Y.
Demirci S.
Baharuddin M.Z.
Watanabe T.
Sumantyo J.T.S.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI AG
Abstract
Circularly polarized synthetic aperture radar (CP-SAR) is known to be insensitive to polarization mismatch losses caused by the Faraday rotation effect and antenna misalignment. Additionally, the dual-circular polarimetric (DCP) mode has proven to have more polarimetric information than that of the corresponding mode of linear polarization, i.e., the dual-linear polarimetric (DLP) mode. Owing to these benefits, this paper investigates the feasibility of CP-SAR for rice monitoring. A ground-based CP-radar system was exploited, and C-band anechoic chamber data of a self-cultivated Japanese rice paddy were acquired from germination to ripening stages. Temporal variations of polarimetric observables derived from full-circular polarimetric (FCP) and DCP as well as synthetically generated DLP data are analyzed and assessed with regard to their effectiveness in phenology retrieval. Among different observations, the H/? plane and triangle plots obtained by three scattering components (surface, double-bounce, and volume scattering) for both the FCP and DCP modes are confirmed to have reasonable capability in discriminating the relevant intervals of rice growth. � 2017 by the authors.