Analysis of Polarimetric Surface Scattering in High Resolution SAR

Statistical properties of rough surfaces can be affected by the spatial resolution of the radar sensor. This study aims to understand effects of the spatial resolution on the statistical description of surface roughness properties and on the surface scattering characteristics of polarimetric radar signal. A new expression for the surface autocovariance function and its corresponding roughness spectrum is proposed in order to characterize surface scattering. Results represent increases in the backscattering coefficients in accordance with decreases in the resolution cell size. Conventional continuous spectrum in the theoretical scattering model could underestimate the radar response in case of the surface defined by high correlation length.