Multi-frequency polarimetric radar earth observations

The air-borne multi-frequency polarimetric SAR ldquoIMARCrdquo allows radar earth observation measurements at 4 frequency bands (X,L,P and VHF) and utilizes a complete set of different linear polarizations: VV, HH, VH and HV. Theoretical and experimental feasibilities have been carried out in recent years. System capabilities and potential applications have been demonstrated. Operational usage in a wide range of applications is expected. However, from our research it became obvious that despite interesting data can be collected the major limitation of full and reliable utilization in various applications comes from the mismatch between available electro-magnetic models and the description of the actual earth surface and sub-surface during the SAR measurement campaigns. Applications are foreseen in hydrology and in classifying vegetation, snow, ice and frozen soils, and in sub-surface sensing for locating artificial and natural objects, as well as different natural anomalies. New and more advanced electro-magnetic modeling is needed in order to exploit all IMARC potentials. In the framework of a large multi-national activity an integrated software package will be developed in which new and more-advanced vegetation surface and sub-surface scattering models are included.