UTILISATION OF HYBRID POLARIMETRIC SAR DATA FOR NATURAL RESOURCE MONITORING – A NEW DIMENSION

Abstract

Natural resource mapping and its monitoring are the key elements for sustainable rural development. Satellite based remote sensing with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is widely accepted for natural monitoring because of its synoptic view and better temporal coverage due to its unique capabilities to provide day and night measurements, almost independent of atmospheric/climatic conditions. ISRO’s Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) with hybrid polarimetry added a new dimension to explore its utilisation for various applications including natural resource monitoring and further to its management with the inclusion of Geographical Information System. A pilot study has been carried out by considering hybrid polarimetric single look complex SAR datasets acquired over Annaram village in Mahabubnagar district. In the current work, hybrid polarimetric data from RISAT-1 have been analysed and processed for different standard radar targets like corner reflectors and various land cover features using Stokes parameter based decomposition techniques like M-delta, M-chi and M-alpha. The importance of Stokes vector and its derived value added parameter based decompositions are well demonstrated statistically as they aid in characterising target properties based on dominant basic scattering mechanism. Derived Stokes Polarimetric parameters that are decomposed from hybrid polarimetric data are elucidated as the essential basis for better target discrimination and classification. The preliminary results and experience gained in implementation of different emerging hybrid polarimetric decompositions for deriving characteristics of scattering mechanism involved in natural and man-made targets towards sustainable rural development are discussed in this paper.