Analysis of dual- and full-circular polarimetric SAR modes for rice phenology monitoring: An experimental investigation through ground-based measurements

• Main Authors: Izumi Y., Demirci S., Baharuddin M.Z., Watanabe T., Sumantyo J.T.S.
• Other Authors: 57191608101
• Format: Article
• Published: MDPI AG 2023

Circularly polarized synthetic aperture radar (CP-SAR) is known to be insensitive to polarization mismatch losses caused by the Faraday rotation effect and antenna misalignment. Additionally, the dual-circular polarimetric (DCP) mode has proven to have more polarimetric information than that of the corresponding mode of linear polarization, i.e., the dual-linear polarimetric (DLP) mode. Owing to these benefits, this paper investigates the feasibility of CP-SAR for rice monitoring. A ground-based CP-radar system was exploited, and C-band anechoic chamber data of a self-cultivated Japanese rice paddy were acquired from germination to ripening stages. Temporal variations of polarimetric observables derived from full-circular polarimetric (FCP) and DCP as well as synthetically generated DLP data are analyzed and assessed with regard to their effectiveness in phenology retrieval. Among different observations, the H/? plane and triangle plots obtained by three scattering components (surface, double-bounce, and volume scattering) for both the FCP and DCP modes are confirmed to have reasonable capability in discriminating the relevant intervals of rice growth. � 2017 by the authors.