Monitoring forest freeze-thaw: The March '88 Alaskan aircraft SAR experiment
In preparation for the first European Earth Remote Sensing (ERS-1) mission, a series of multitemporal, multifrequency, multipolarization aircraft synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data sets were acquired over the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest near Fairbanks, Alaska, in March, 1988. Significant change in radar backscatter was observed over the two-week experimental period due to changing environmental conditions. These preliminary results are presented to illustrate the opportunity afforded by the ERS-1 SAR to monitor temporal changes in forest ecosystems. Preliminary results indicate that it may be possible to use these changing conditions to monitor the environmental condition of the forest. Aircraft data obtained for a boreal forest indicate that freeze-thaw events significantly change the dielectric properties of the trees and the surface (snow), resulting in a significant change in microwave backscatter.
