Study on the polarimetric characteristics of the Lop Nur arid area using PolSAR data

Zhihong Gao; Huaze Gong; Xu Zhou; Yun Shao; Minghuan Yuan; Longfei Wang

doi:10.1117/1.JRS.8.083681

4 February 2014 Study on the polarimetric characteristics of the Lop Nur arid area using PolSAR data

Zhihong Gao, Huaze Gong, Xu Zhou, Yun Shao, Minghuan Yuan, Longfei Wang

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Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, Vol. 8, Issue 1, 083681 (February 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.8.083681

Abstract

The quantitative study of the arid Lop Nur lake basin is significant to investigate the environmental changes in the arid area of northwestern China and extremely arid areas of Eurasia in general. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, with its penetration capability and advantages for studying geological phenomena on a large spatial scale, is very suitable for analyzing the subsurface of the Lop Nur area. Based on the full polarimetric ALOS PALSAR data and field investigation, it was found that the two-layer scattering mechanism of the dry sediments is very special and complex. The scattering mechanism in the bright strips is more complex than that in the gray strips according to the co-polarization correlation analysis. The experimental results show that the Cloude–Pottier decomposition method is more appropriate for this area. Moreover, the polarimetric characteristics and Cloude-Pottier decomposition results are very important for the study of the past climatic change in Lop Nur area. In conclusion, full polarimetric SAR data and target decomposition theory provide a new technique for obtaining information and quantitatively studying the subsurface characteristics of arid areas.

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Zhihong Gao, Huaze Gong, Xu Zhou, Yun Shao, Minghuan Yuan, and Longfei Wang "Study on the polarimetric characteristics of the Lop Nur arid area using PolSAR data," Journal of Applied Remote Sensing 8(1), 083681 (4 February 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.8.083681

Published: 4 February 2014

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