Polarimetric Effects in L-band Interferometric Phase Triplets

Abstract

The present study investigates the polarimetric characteristics of L-band interferometric phase triplets using fully polar-imetric SAR data over the Traunstein forest site in southern Germany. The analysis focuses on the behaviour of phase triplets of individual Pauli components, representing surface, dihedral, and volume scattering mechanisms. For each type of scattering mechanism, the spatial variability and magnitude of triplet phase are quantified, allowing the identi-fication of the dominant scattering contributions to interferometric deviations. The influence of land cover and its change including crops and forests, on phase triplet patterns spanning different time intervals, is addressed, highlighting the sensitivity of closure phases to structural complexity and temporal changes. A model-based interpretation and vali-dation of the observed phase triplet patterns will be attempted in the main contribution.