Radiative transfer models have been widely used to simulate the radar backscattering from forested areas. A three-dimensional radar backscatter model of forest canopy developed in previous studies takes full account of spatial position of trees in a forest stand, and the interactions among crown, trunk and ground surface. The model predicted well for the co-polarized backscatter measurements, but underestimated the backscattering for cross-polarization, primarily because only the first-order scattering within tree crowns was considered in the model. The backscattering at cross-polarization depends strongly on multiple scatter- ing within tree crowns. To produce good estimations for cross-polarized component, the matrix-doubling method is employed here to compute multiple-scattering within the crown. The modified model is compared with the original model, and the field forest measurements and AIRSAR data are used for validation of the modified model. The cross-polarization backscattering is improved in different degrees for different crown structures and at different bands.
NI WenJian1,2, GUO ZhiFeng1 & SUN GuoQing3 1 State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, jointly sponsored by the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100101, China
