Indoor experiments on polarimetric SAR interferometry

A coherence optimization method, which makes use of polarimetry to enhance the quality of SAR interferograms, has been experimentally tested under laboratory conditions in an anechoic chamber. By carefully selecting the polarization in both images, the resulting interferogram exhibits an improved coherence above the standard HH or VV channel. This higher coherence produces a lower phase variance, thus estimating the underlying topography more accurately. The potential improvement that this technique provides in the generation of digital elevation models (DEM) of non-vegetated natural surfaces has been observed for the first time on some artificial surfaces created with gravel. An experiment on a true outdoor DEM has not been accomplished yet, but the first laboratory results show that the height error for an almost planar surface can be drastically reduced within a wide range of baselines by using the optimization algorithm. This algorithm leads to three possible interferograms associated with statistically independent scattering mechanisms. The phase difference between those interferograms has been employed for extracting the height of vegetation samples. This retrieval technique has been tested on three different samples: maize, rice, and young fir trees. The inverted heights are compared with ground truth for different frequency bands. The estimates are quite variable with frequency, but their complete physical justification is still in progress. Finally, an alternative simplified scheme for the optimization is proposed. The new approach (called polarization subspace method) yields suboptimum results but is more intuitive and has been used for illustrating the working principle of the original optimization algorithm.Peer Reviewe

Earth observations from space: Outlook for the geological sciences

Remote sensing from space platforms is discussed as another tool available to geologists. The results of Nimbus observations, the ERTS program, and Skylab EREP are reviewed, and a multidisciplinary approach is recommended for meeting the challenges of remote sensing

Use of remote sensing in agriculture

Remote sensing studies in Virginia and Chesapeake Bay areas to investigate soil and plant conditions via remote sensing technology are reported ant the results given. Remote sensing techniques and interactions are also discussed. Specific studies on the effects of soil moisture and organic matter on energy reflection of extensively occurring Sassafras soils are discussed. Greenhouse and field studies investigating the effects of chlorophyll content of Irish potatoes on infrared reflection are presented. Selected ground truth and environmental monitoring data are shown in summary form. Practical demonstrations of remote sensing technology in agriculture are depicted and future use areas are delineated

Electromagnetic Wave Theory and Applications

Contains table of contents for Section 3, reports on six research projects and a list of publications and conference papers.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-89-C-0001National Science Foundation Grant ECS 86-20029Schlumberger- Doll ResearchU.S. Army Research Office Contract DAAL03 88-K-0057U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-90-J-1002National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NAGW-1617U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-89-J-1107National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NAGW-1272National Aeronautics and Space Administration Agreement 958461U.S. Army - Corps of Engineers Contract DACA39-87-K-0022U.S. Air Force - Electronic Systems Division Contract F19628-88-K-0013U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-89-J-1019Digital Equipment CorporationIBM CorporationU.S. Department of Transportation Contract DTRS-57-88-C-00078Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency Contract MDA972-90-C-002

An ERTS-1 investigation for Lake Ontario and its basin

The author has identified the following significant results. Methods of manual, semi-automatic, and automatic (computer) data processing were evaluated, as were the requirements for spatial physiographic and limnological information. The coupling of specially processed ERTS data with simulation models of the watershed precipitation/runoff process provides potential for water resources management. Optimal and full use of the data requires a mix of data processing and analysis techniques, including single band editing, two band ratios, and multiband combinations. A combination of maximum likelihood ratio and near-IR/red band ratio processing was found to be particularly useful

Third Earth Resources Technology Satellite Symposium. Volume 2: Summary of results

Summaries are provided of significant results taken from presentations at the symposium along with some typical examples of the applications of ERTS-1 data for solving resources management problems at the national, state, and local levels