Assessment of PALSAR ScanSAR calibration and impacts for wetland applications

Abstract

ALOS PI proposal 217, titled ¿A Study of Tropical Wetlands dynamics by PALSAR and AVNIR-2¿, is set out to assess the utility of ALOS AVNIR-2 and PALSAR ScanSAR data for characterization of the temporal and spatial properties of regional-scale inundation in tropical wetlands. Phase 1 of the project, which is described in this report, entails assessment of the absolute radiometric stability and relative, scan-to-scan, calibration accuracy of PALSAR ScanSAR data, and from a thematic aspect, investigation of the incidence angle dependency for the detection of below-canopy inundation. The second phase of the project will focus on the characterization of regional-scale seasonal inundation patterns in the Congo river basin and Okavango delta using AVNIR-2 and time-series of PALSAR ScanSAR data, and the subsequent generation of spatio-temporal flood duration maps.