Project Funding: 2013 - 2015

NRA: 2012 NASA: Terrestrial Ecology   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
The overall goal of this proposal is to establish a standard method for extracting canopy height and structure from remote sensing data collected by forthcoming radar missions, including ALOS-2 and DESDynI. We aim at providing the ecosystem science community with a robust algorithm that helps to monitor ecosystems and ecosystem changes at regional and global scales using radar technology. To meet this goal, we propose to further test and improve an already-demonstrated remote sensing technique, namely repeat-pass polarimetric interferometric SAR (Pol-InSAR). The success of Pol-InSAR in monitoring forests using repeat-pass radar data is predicated on understanding temporal decorrelation and having robust algorithms that compensate for its effects. Our key idea is to incorporate a physical model of temporal decorrelation into models of volumetric decorrelation in order to correctly compensate for dynamic changes that occur in forest canopies when forest parameters are estimated. We have already developed a novel method based on this idea and published results of height inversion using JPL/UAVSAR radar data. Here, we propose to (1) test our method on tropical forests and mountainous terrain with UAVSAR and PALSAR-2 data; (2) extend the method and the model to temporal decorrelation caused by dielectric variations; and (3) quantify the error on the estimated canopy height and canopy structure associated with the violation of the underlying model assumptions and with the limitations of the inversion algorithm. This proposal directly addresses the Terrestrial Ecology element of the ROSES 2012 NRA. The outcome of our research is of major relevance to terrestrial ecology applications using remote sensing. The tasks that we propose will help to quantify vegetation biomass and its variations over time, monitor the temporal perturbation of forested landscapes on short and long temporal scales and, ultimately, understand the global carbon budget and climate change.

2015 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)

• An acquisition strategy for the proposed NISAR mission to retrieve 3-D forest structure   --   (Marco Lavalle, Paul A Rosen, Scott Hensley)   [abstract]

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile