Polarimetric calibration of PALSAR2

On May 24, 2014, ALOS2 was launched. ALOS2 is the follow-on satellite of ALOS and has the L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR2). PALSAR2 provides an image with the higher resolution(3m) and wider swath(50km) in high resolution mode as compared with the image of former L-band SAR (PALSAR). Since PALSAR2 has a function of polarimetric observation by utilizing horizontal (H) and vertical (V) polarized waves both in transmission and reception, full polarimetric data can be obtained. The observed polarimetric data is expected to be utilized for various remote sensing applications. After the launch, the initial functional confirmation and calibration operations were carried out. From November 25, 2014, PALSAR2´s regular provision of observation data has started. In this paper, the polarimetric calibration and assessment of PALSAR2´s polarimetric data are discussed. The channel imbalance and cross-talks estimated from Amazon´s polarimetric data are reported and the polarimetric signatures of trihedral corner reflector before and after polarimetric calibration are shown. Moreover, Tomakomai data was compared with Amazon data.