Potential of TanDEM-X for forest parameter estimation

Kurzfassung

It was demonstrated that interferometric volume coherence is sensitive to vertical forest structure. This is true even for high frequencies as X-band. Resent Experiments demonstrated the potential of X-band to estimate key forest parameters like forest height. The main limitations at X-band are the high extinction values (up to 1dB/m and larger) for forests and the high sensitivity of X-band to temporal decorrelation. With the launch of the Tan-DEM-X satellite, for the first time single pass interferometric X-band data from a space borne system become available. In this paper the potential of X-band for forest height inversion is discussed and experimental results from different relevant campaigns are introduced and discussed.