Characteristics of Synthetic Aperture Radar Data for Various Land Cover in a Watershed

Abstract

This paper reports characteristics of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imageries obtained by two new satellites: the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) and the Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS-1). The authors compare the SAR imageries in terms of distributions of the CCT values and the backscattering coefficients for several kinds of land cover in a watershed near Nagoya, Japan. The results of comparison show:(1) In a water area, the mean backscattering coefficient is about -15 (dB) with the use of the ERS-1 SAR data and JERS-1 also. The value is smaller than the backscattering coefficients in areas except the water area;(2) The backscattering coefficients in areas except the water area by the ERS-1 SAR data are larger than the ones by the JERS-1 SAR data;(3) To delineate a water area, it is better to use the ERS-1 SAR data than the JERS-1 SAR data; and (4) To identify boundaries clearly between various land covers except a water area is difficult by the use of ERS-1 SAR data and JERS-1 also.