Paper Info
Title
Comparison of SAR and optical images of the rainforests of Borneo, Malaysia with field data
Abstract
Preliminary results are described on the comparison of the optical and radar images of the rainforests of Sarawak, Malaysia, with the ground-truth data collected from the field survey. The test sites are the mangrove and adjacent virgin forests, and oil-palm plantation areas. Visible and infrared images acquired by the MOS-1b have shown their capability of extracting deforestation areas, but their applications to mangrove forests are limited. Operating at L-band with longer penetration depth, the JERS-1 SAR is superior to the ERS-2 C-band SAR for differentiating the mangrove from virgin forests, although both forests have biomass similar and well above the saturation range of the L-band RCS. The field data show that the mean tree diameter is about a half the radar wavelength in both the forests, indicating that the L-band microwave is "semi-transparent" in these forests. It is, thus, concluded that the lower (about 6 dB) RCS in the mangrove is due to specular reflection beneath the forests; while in the virgin forests there is a substantial amount of diffuse scattering by undergrowth. This hypothesis is supported by the difference in image intensity between the dry and wet seasons.
Year
DOI
Venue
2002
10.1109/IGARSS.2002.1026817
IGARSS
Keywords
Field
DocType
forestry,radar imaging,synthetic aperture radar,vegetation mapping,borneo,l-band,mos-1b data,malaysia,sar images,sarawak,biomass,deforestation areas,diffuse scattering,dry season,infrared images,mangrove forests,oil-palm plantation,optical images,penetration depth,rainforests,saturation range,specular reflection,tree diameter,undergrowth,virgin forests,wet season,laser radar,l band,mangrove forest,data collection,optical scattering,optical imaging,testing,radar cross section,data mining,ground truth
Radar,Undergrowth,Radar imaging,Synthetic aperture radar,Computer science,Mangrove,Remote sensing,Lidar,Deforestation,Rainforest
Conference
Volume
Citations 
PageRank 
5
1
0.38
References 
Authors
2
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Kazuo Ouchi111215.71
Ipor, I.B.210.38