This paper aims to evaluate the contribution of multitemporal polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for winter wheat and rapeseed crops parameters [height, leaf area index, and dry biomass (DB)] estimation, during their whole vegetation cycles in comparison to backscattering coefficients and optical data. Angular sensitivities and dynamics of polarimetric indicators were also analyzed following the growth stages of these two common crop types using, in total, 14 radar images (Radarsat-2), 16 optical images (Formosat-2, Spot-4/5), and numerous ground data. The results of this study show the importance of correcting the angular effect on SAR signals especially for copolarized signals and polarimetric indicators associated to single-bounce scattering mechanisms. The analysis of the temporal dynamic of polarimetric indicators has shown their high potential to detect crop growth changes. Moreover, this study shows the high interest of using SAR parameters (backscattering coefficients and polarimetric indicators) for crop parameters estimation during the whole vegetation cycle instead of optical vegetation index. They particularly revealed their high potential for rapeseed height and DB monitoring [i.e., Shannon entropy polarimetry (r2=0.70) and radar vegetation index (r2=0.80), respectively].
This paper is concerned with the estimation of wheat and rapeseed crops parameters (height, leaf area index and dry biomass), during their whole vegetation cycle, using satellite time series both acquired in optical and microwave domains. Crop monitoring at a fine scale represents an important stake from an environmental point of view as it provides essential information to combine increase of production and sustainable management of agricultural landscapes. The aim of this paper is to compare the potential of optical and SAR parameters (backscattering coefficients and polarimetric parameters) for crop parameters estimation. Satellite (Formosat-2, Spot-4/5 and Radarsat-2) and ground data were acquired during the MCM’10 experiment conducted by the CESBIO laboratory in 2010. A vegetation index was derived from the optical images: the NDVI and backscattering coefficients and polarimetric parameters were computed from Radarsat-2 images. Results of this study show the high interest of using SAR parameters (backscattering coefficients and polarimetric parameters) for crop parameters estimation during the whole vegetation cycle instead of using optical vegetation index. Polarimetric parameters do not improve wheat parameters estimation (e.g. backscattering coefficient σ° VV corresponds to the best parameter for wheat height estimation (r2 = 0.60)) but show their high potential for rapeseed height and dry biomass monitoring (i.e. Shannon Entropy polarimetry (SEp ; r2 = 0.70) and Radar Vegetation Index (RVI ; r2 = 0.80) respectively).
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