Evaluation of microwave remote sensing data for forest stratification and canopy characterisation

The study presents digital preprocessing techniques, visual mapping capability of airborne X-band SAR data having diverse vegetation types in tropical wet climate. Spatial textural analysis methods have also been evaluated to enhance discriminability of the forest types and features. Attempt has been made to enhance the information by merging optical remote sensing data with microwave X-band response. Finally, the backscattering digital values have been correlated with qualitative and quantitative vegetation parameters. The Leaf Area Index has shown significant relationship with SAR image digital number value.