Compact-Polarimetric SAR decompositions for soil moisture retrievals using Radarsat Constellation Mission data
Citation
Hongquan Wang, Keshav Singh, and Prabahar Ravichandran, "Compact-Polarimetric SAR Decompositions for Soil Moisture Retrievals using RADARSAT Constellation Mission Data", 11th International Conference of Agro-Geoinformatics, Wuhan, China, July 2023
Plain language summary
This study proposed SM retrievals by developing CP SAR decompositions using RCM observations. The CP SAR captured the influences of vegetation growth on surface and volume scattering mechanisms. A robust characterization of the vegetation volume scattering allows better discrimination of the vegetation and soil contributions in the RCM signature. In addition, the multi-layer SM measurements in the RISMA network provide an opportunity to retrieve root zone SM which is paramount in precision agriculture.
Abstract
This study investigates the compact-polarimetric SAR decompositions to retrieve soil moisture during the vegetation growth seasons in Canada. We analyzed and modeled the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) data acquired in 2020 in terms of station observations from Real-Time In-Situ Soil Monitoring for Agriculture (RISMA). The compact-polarimetric decompositions such as m-δ , m-χ and Random Volume Over Ground (RVOG) were evaluated to separate the vegetation volume scattering and soil surface scattering components. The preliminary results show promising potential of the RCM compact-polarimetric decompositions to capture the increased volume scattering power and weak dihedral scattering power. The surface scattering power was impacted by vegetation attenuation and soil moisture.