Title :
Land cover type and forest biomass assessment in the Colombian Amazon
Author :
Hoekman, Dirk H. ; Quinones, Marcela J.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Water Resources, Wageningen Agric. Univ., Netherlands
Abstract :
Results of an analysis of AIRSAR data of the Colombian Amazon (province Guaviare) acquired during the 1993 AIRSAR South American deployment of NASA are discussed. Research is focused on the potential of AIRSAR radar images to classify land cover types, such as primary and secondary forest, recently cut forest, pasture, savanna and bush, taking into account the influence of incidence angle and speckle level. Also the relation between backscatter and biomass level is studied. Very good classification results were obtained using combinations of two channels. High correlation between biomass and backscatter were found for many channels. The use of (partial) polarimetry and circular polarizations furthers results
Keywords :
airborne radar; backscatter; forestry; geophysical techniques; image classification; radar cross-sections; radar imaging; radar polarimetry; remote sensing by radar; synthetic aperture radar; AIRSAR; Amazon; Colombia; Guaviare; SAR; South America; airborne radar; backscatter; biomass assessment; bush; forestry; geophysical measurement technique; image classification; incidence angle; land cover type; pasture; radar image; radar imaging; radar polarimetry; radar remote sensing; radar scattering; savanna; speckle; terrain mapping; tropical forest type; vegetation mapping; Backscatter; Biomass; Condition monitoring; Frequency; Pixel; Polarization; Remote monitoring; Spaceborne radar; Vegetation mapping; Water resources;
Conference_Titel :
Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 1997. IGARSS '97. Remote Sensing - A Scientific Vision for Sustainable Development., 1997 IEEE International
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3836-7
DOI :
10.1109/IGARSS.1997.609045
