Compact Polarimetry for Agricultural Mapping and Inventory: Preparation for Radarsat Constellation Mission

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) has combined RADARSAT-2 C-band dual polarization data with optical imagery to map crop types across the agricultural extent of Canada yearly since 2009. In preparation for the launch of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) primary research has been focused on incorporating similar-mode dual polarization RCM data in the operational system. The availability of the compact polarimetry (CP) mode with continuous coverage has important implications for crop mapping and inventory. CP mode on RCM has a circular transmit and two orthogonal linear receive structure and maintains phase information. The addition of CP data to AAFC's operational crop type mapping will expand the information that the current dual polarization Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) component provides. This will increase the SAR contribution from the simple intensity of backscatter to capturing the scattering char