Remote sensing of surface roughness using polarimetric SAR data

The circular polarization coherence, ρ_RRLL, is investigated in this paper as a measure of terrain surface roughness. The studies utilized data collected 1) from dielectric surfaces in an anechoic chamber and, 2) from a larger desert test site using P-, L-, and C-band NASA/JPL AIRSAR data. These experimental results, and supporting theory, indicate a sensitive decorrelation of |ρ_RRLL | with increasing surface roughness ks. Practical measurement issues and a performance comparison relative to the polarimetric anisotropy A are discussed