Indirect Estimation of Vegetation Contribution to Microwave Backscatter Via Triple-Frequency SAR Data

Yueqian Cao, Ana P. Barros

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

A coupled snow physics-radiative transfer forward-inversion modeling system was applied over snow-covered terrain in Grand Mesa and the Senator Beck Basin, Colorado, USA to estimate vegetation contributions to the total backscatter from the ground-snow-vegetation system from dual-frequency airborne SnowSAR (X- and Ku-bands) and Sentinel-1 C-band measurements. A simplified but comprehensive first-order microwave emission model (MEMLS-V) was iteratively inverted by a global optimizer using simulated annealing to retrieve unknown parameters and backscatter components from double-bounce, snowpack volume, and snow-ground interface. The retrieved parameters demonstrate high correlation with the observed SnowSAR signal dynamics tied to vegetation and snowpack heterogeneities. This suggests that the forward-inversion system accounting for complex multiple scattering within the ground-snow-vegetation system reliably regulated compensation effects of vegetation and backscatter at the snow-ground interface. The findings have useful practical implications for retrieving large-scale SWE in the northern hemisphere boreal forests from satellite-based radar measurements.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationIGARSS 2023 - 2023 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages3114-3117
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9798350320107
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Externally publishedYes
Event2023 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2023 - Pasadena, United States
Duration: Jul 16 2023Jul 21 2023

Publication series

NameInternational Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)
Volume2023-July

Conference

Conference2023 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPasadena
Period7/16/237/21/23

Keywords

  • MEMLS
  • SnowSAR
  • forward-inversion modeling system
  • simulated annealing
  • vegetation heterogeneities

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science Applications
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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