PolSAR based Scattering Characterization for Sea-Ice Topographic Retrieval using TanDEM-X Data

Abstract:
In this study, we investigated the multi-year sea ice in the western Weddell Sea based on the coordinate TanDEM-X synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Operation Icebridge (OIB) photogrammetric campaign. The digital elevation model (DEM) of sea-ice surface topography is derived from dual-pol TanDEM-X imagery by interferometric SAR (InSAR) processing and compared with the photogrammetric measurements. We discussed how polarimetric signatures respond to the sea-ice surface topography and proposed a new method for sea-ice surface topographic mapping using co-polarimetric coherence. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of merging polarimetric signature into sea-ice surface topographic retrieval.