Monitoring Dynamics in Time of Forest Vertical Structure with Multibaseline PolInSAR Data

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) waves have the capability of penetrating into forest volumes. Multibaseline (MB) polarimetric-interferometric SAR (PolInSAR) systems can retrieve information about the vertical distribution of the radar backscattered power and to relate it to the physical 3-D forest structure of the vegetation. Radar backscattering from forests can change in time due to different weather conditions, to seasonality, and to logging or disturbances. In this paper, experiments with L-band and X-band data are presented for a first characterization of the related effects in the estimated 3-D forest structure parameters.