Co-polarization coherence signature for characterization of polarimetric SAR image

In this study, the usability of the co-polarization correlation coefficients of polarimetric SAR data for characterization of terrain types in the natural and urban areas has been investigated. The co-polarization coherence signature plot and the co-polarization phase correlation plot, which display the correlation coefficients as a function of the polarization state, are introduced with the unitary basis transformation of the polarimetric covariance matrix. Experimental results indicate that the co-polarization coherence signatures can be an effective way to characterize terrain scatter types.