Statistical and spatial properties of forest clutter measured with polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR)

The purpose of this study was to assess the characteristics of the polarimetric radar clutter collected over various types of vegetation, and to evaluate the potential utility of various measures for classifying vegetated terrain. It utilized airborne radar data collected in October 1988 of pure and mixed stands of jack pine and aspen located in central Minnesota, and data collected in August 1989 of forested areas surrounding Durham, NC. The measured parameters are the polarimetric signature, a statistical distribution shape parameter, and the texture autocorrelation function. A method is presented for calculating the texture autocorrelation from single-look complex SAR imagery. Comparison of parameters from different clutter types at a variety of frequency, polarization, and incidence angle combinations showed that different terrain types exhibit unique polarimetric, statistical, and spatial properties