SIR-C polarimetric backscatter features of agricultural land cover types early during the growing season

This study focuses on the polarimetric radar backscatter responses observed for different agricultural land cover types early during the growing season, in two well-separated test sites. These were Oltrepo Pavese in northern Italy and Oberpfaffenhofen in southern Germany. Results show that L-band was better at discriminating between agricultural land cover types than C-band. However effects due to soil roughness and those due to vegetation in the fields were difficult to separate using only backscatter amplitude information. Polarimetric information expressed through the HH-VV correlation coefficients and as polarimetric signatures however, provided additional information on the backscatter mechanisms for various land cover types and allowed for the separation of vegetation and soil effects