Applications of polarimetry and interferometry

This chapter considers practical application of many of the concepts in earlier chapters to problems in remote sensing. It begins with a treatment of imaging radar, where most applications currently arise. A hierarchy of imaging modes from SAR to InSAR, POLSAR, and finally POLInSAR, are all described. Attention then turns to examples from surface, volume and mixed surface-volume scattering measurements and simulations. The simplest case of depolarisation by bare surface scattering is considered first, and both backscatter and general bistatic measurement are shown. The chapter then moves on...

This chapter considers practical application of many of the concepts in earlier chapters to problems in remote sensing. It begins with a treatment of imaging radar, where most applications currently arise. A hierarchy of imaging modes from SAR to InSAR, POLSAR, and finally POLInSAR, are all described. Attention then turns to examples from surface, volume and mixed surface-volume scattering measurements and simulations. The simplest case of depolarisation by bare surface scattering is considered first, and both backscatter and general bistatic measurement are shown. The chapter then moves on to consider volume scattering, first through advanced computer modelling of scattering by particle clouds, and then from chamber measurements of microwave scattering by vegetation, considering polarimetry, interferometry, and coherence tomography. Finally, consideration is given to developing applications in airborne and spaceborne imaging radar.