Calibration and Validation of Polarimetric ALOS2-PALSAR2

Abstract

PALSAR2 polarimetric distortion matrix is measured using corner reflectors deployed in the Amazonian forest. The Amazonian forest near the geomagnetic equator provides ideal sites for the assessment of L-band PALSAR2 antenna parameters, at free Faraday rotation. Corner reflectors (CRs) deployed at free Faraday rotation provide accurate estimation of antenna cross-talks in contrast to the biased measurements obtained with CRs deployed at significant Faraday rotation. The extended Freeman–Van Zyl calibration method introduced and validated for ALOS-PALSAR calibration is used for the assessment of PALSAR-2 calibration parameters. Six datasets collected over the Amazonian rainforests (with CRs) are used to assess PALSAR-2 distortion matrix for five beams (FP6-3 to FP6-7) with incidence angle varying from 25° to 40°. It is shown that the PALSAR2 antenna is highly isolated with very low cross-talks (lower than −40 dB). Finally, the impact of a significant Faraday rotation on antenna cross-talk measurements using CR is discussed.

Keywords

• radar polarimetry
• synthetic aperture radar
• calibration
• Faraday rotation