Statistics of TanDEM-X DSM, coherence and backscatter for the characterization of tropical forest structural configuration

Orbital InSAR is an ideal observation instrument in tropical areas, where optical imagery is hampered by persistent cloud cover. In particular, TanDEM-X provides backscatter, interferometric coherence and digital surface model from phase (DSM) at high spatial resolution (4 m), whose spatial statistics can in principle hold information on forest structure. This information, in turn, could lay the ground to distinguish between naturally occurring forest heterogeneity (e.g. due to the presence of emergent species) and forest disturbance, such as forest degradation (e.g. removal of vegetation) and forest regeneration. The present work investigates by experimental analysis how statistical measures of the spatial random fields (SRF) provided by TanDEM-X InSAR data can be mapped onto properties of the forest spatial structure. The analysis is focused on a case study in the Republic of Congo.