FOREST CHARACTERISATION BY MEANS OF TERRASAR-X AND TANDEM-X POLARIMETRIC INTERFEROMETRIC DATA

Tandem-X – successfully launched in June 2010 – forms with TerraSAR-X the first single-pass (single- dual- and quad-) polarimetric interferometer in space. This allows for the first time the acquisition and analysis of Pol-InSAR data in X-band from space without the disturbing effect of temporal decorrelation. In this paper first TerraSAR-X – TanDEM-X datasets are analyzed using Pol-InSAR techniques [2][3] in order to demonstrate about the potential of the TanDEM-X mission for forest parameter inversion and forest characterisation. For this purpose dual- polarimetric (HH/VV and/or HH/HV) datasets acquired during the pursuit monostatic commissioning phase were used. Estimated Pol-InSAR parameter/heights are compared/validated against ground measurements or reference data from LIDAR measurements