Setup of a Drone-Based SAR Experiment to Analyze a Boreal Forest

Sammanfattning

The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has long been used from satellites for forest monitoring at global level. The boreal forests in Sweden are well described wall-to-wall from airborne laser scanning and airborne photography. Hence, in Sweden, SAR can often only provide a limited added value, due to the low resolution compared to other sensors, despite its all-weather acquisition capabilities. By accounting for interfering effects that currently degrade the useful information in SAR images, it can be extremely valuable for both vegetation mapping and belowground mapping (e.g., soil conditions and tree roots). In the current work, we present the configuration of the first drone-based SAR experiment that allows us to image the forest in 3D with very high spatial resolution. We have started the analyses by using tomography to derive reflectivity for the roots of single trees, and comparing these with reference root biomass. The linear relationship indicates a potential for using SAR to derive forest variables that were yet neglected or little researched. Moreover, extensive additional remote sensing data have been collected from both airborne and spaceborne platforms, and reference data for both the vegetation and soil have been inventoried in-situ using complementary measurements and sensors. Hence, this unique experimental setup enables many unprecedented analyses about SAR applied to boreal forests.

Nyckelord

Three-dimensional displays; Spaceborne radar; Vegetation mapping; Forestry; Vegetation; Soilbiomass; Drone; forest; polarimetry; radar; SAR; tomography

Publicerad i

Titel: IGARSS 2024 - 2024 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium : proceedings : 7-12 July, 2024 Athens, Greece
Utgivare: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Konferens

IGARSS 2024 - 2024 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Athens, Greece, 2024-07-07 - 2024-07-12

SLU författare

• Persson, Henrik

  • Institutionen för skoglig resurshushållning, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Mukhopadhyay, Ritwika

  • Institutionen för skoglig resurshushållning, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Valbuena, Ruben

  • Institutionen för skoglig resurshushållning, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

UKÄ forskningsämne

Skogsvetenskap
Fjärranalysteknik

Publikationens identifierare

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS53475.2024.10640704
• ISBN: 9798350360325

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/139744