Impact of beam mode, multi-temporal, and multi-angle combinations of RADARSAT-2 data on class separability for three coastal sites throughout Arctic Canada

Scientists at Environment Canada´s National Wildlife Research Centre are working towards operationalizing shoreline sensitivity mapping throughout Arctic Canada. Radarsat-2 imagery is well suited to this application since it is readily available to the Canadian federal government and can also be acquired under all weather conditions. The Bhattacharyya Distance was used in this analysis to assess the potential for accurate classification of various shoreline types using R2 images acquired at different incidence angles and beam modes. Three study sites were considered: Churchill, Manitoba and Richards Island, Northwest Territories, and Victoria Strait, Nunavut. Results indicate greater potential for classification with quad pol data, and that shallow angle images contain more useful information than steep.