ADVANCES IN RADAR REMOTE SENSING OF WETLAND ECOSYSTEMS: COMBINATION OF SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS, FIELD DATA AND EM MODELS
Globewetland Symposium, 19-20 Octubre, Frascati, Italia. Publicación especial de la Agencia Espacial Europea (ESA), SP 634, en CD.
This paper focuses on the results obtained in the analysis of temporal series of ERS-2, RADARSAT-1 SAR and ENVISAT ASAR data acquired over wetland ecosystems of Argentina. The complete data set includes RADARSAT 1 images of 1997-98 that show an El Niño phenomenon, an ERS 2 temporal set covering 1999-2000 that shows the effect of burnt biomass and its recovery on the radar signature, and a temporal set of ASAR data which includes images
acquired under different polarizations and incidence angles as well as different environmental conditions (water level, precipitation, and vegetation condition).
Two marsh species, named junco and cortadera, were monitored. This overall data set is giving us the possibility of studying and understanding the basic interactions between the radar, the soil under different flood conditions, and the vegetation structure. The
comprehension of the observed features was addressed through EM models development for these ecosystems.