Abstract
Multitemporal SAR images are considered to be the practical data sources for monitoring of land cover changes in the tropical regions due to their capability of all weather data acquisition. In order to study the physical meanings of the change of SAR backscatter, regression analysis was performed between radar backscatter and soil wetness index (SWI) and perpendicular vegetation index (PVI) extracted from Landsat TM data, by using JERS-1 SAR and Landsat TM data acquired on the same day. The results suggest that the change of the radar backscatter is related to the changes of both soil moisture and of vegetation coverage conditions.
