Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing - Special Issue on Advanced Polarimetric Radar Remote Sensing Techniques and Applications
Satellite remote sensing with imaging and non-imaging modes is crucial for large-scale monitoring of dynamic environments due to its repetitive monitoring capability and synoptic coverage. Radar sensors are well suited for Earth’s imaging due to their almost weather independence and the ability of microwaves to propagate through the atmosphere with little to no degradation effect from clouds, rain, storms, fog, aerosol saturation, and haze. Remote sensing technology with polarimetric radar should be rapidly and vigorously promoted worldwide, as radar sensing is operationally more efficient, especially for Earth’s observations in any weather and day/ night conditions. Furthermore, polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides efficient and reliable measurement information needed to extract surface and near subsurface physical characteristics, enabling penetration into targeted media to infer properties.
The growing availability of increasingly advanced polarimetric space-borne radar sensors, such as TerraSAR-X (X-band, Germany; since 2007), RADARSAT-2 (C-band, Canada; since 2007), and follow-up tandem satellite sensor systems like TanDEM-X (operating with TerraSAR-X at X-band, Germany; since 2010), ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 (L-band, Japan; since 2014) and Sentinel-1A (C-band, European Space Agency, Italy; since 2014), has led to a rapidly increasing interest in radar polarimetry applications for Earth observation and abrupt and gradual environmental changes.
Furthermore, Indian radar remote sensing missions have made groundbreaking contributions to Earth's and planetary observations, particularly through the implementation of space-borne polarimetric radar missions. Among these, the Indian Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) series has played a remarkable role in monitoring Earth's environment since 2009. RISAT-1A with advanced polarimetric SAR empowers precise target identification, classification, and comprehensive Earth monitoring including cryosphere, geological features, coastal zones, oceanic conditions, and national and international disaster management programs.
Several upcoming next-generation polarimetric SAR missions are designed to make significant contributions to observe the planet with a high temporal resolution. Two notable NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) and BIOMASS (ESA) missions are planned (expected launch in 2024) to monitor global ecosystem and geophysical parameters. The development of advanced techniques and novel applications with demonstrations are essential to generate the Earth observation products by utilizing the upcoming ecosystem focused SAR mission’s data such as NISAR (L- and S-band, NASA-ISRO), BIOMAS (P-band. ESA) and TanDEM-L (L-band, DLR-NASA/JPL), which would advance understanding of our planet's complex systems.
Additionally, high-resolution airborne Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) acquisitions, coupled with field campaigns such as L- & S-band Airborne SAR (ISRO), Joint NASA-ISRO ASAR Campaign (JPL, NASA), UAVSAR (JPL, NASA), PISAR-X (NICT), PISAR-L (JAXA), FSAR (DLR), AIRSAR (JPL, NASA), Convair-580 (CCRS), E-SAR (DLR), RAMSES (ONERA), and others, have provided SAR imaging at different frequency bands, simultaneous multi-frequency SAR images, quad polarization, polarimetric interferometry, and polarimetric tomography capabilities. Moreover, polarimetric scattering measurements are being conducted in anechoic chambers or in the field for validating decomposition or understanding measurement behaviour from various targets for algorithm development and fundamental concept establishment. These advances have stimulated research into new processing algorithms, products, and applications that can fully utilize the sensors' capabilities. The new methodologies/ algorithms not only use basic polarimetric SAR intensity data but also employ advanced technologies such as PolSAR, PolInSAR, and PolTomoSAR. Today, numerous other spaceborne/ airborne/ ground-based SARs are available and have generated significant interest in various applications.
Currently there are also numerous spaceborne polarimetric radar scatterometers in orbit providing reliable remote sensing observations. Remote sensing with Polarimetric Scatterometer (PolScat) capability has made substantial contributions to addressing scientific challenges for accurate monitoring of Earth's environmental changes and health. Polarimetric Radar Scatterometer (PolRScat) datasets are being used for numerous weather and climate phenomena studies, such as to improve weather forecasting, locating tropical storms, predicting their formation and tracks, ocean currents, upwelling, land surface cover change, sea-ice cover and snow/ ice melt-freeze cycle.
This special issue focuses on recent advancements in radar remote sensing techniques and their applications across various fields, including the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and cryosphere. The issue is dedicated to “Advanced Polarimetric Radar Remote Sensing Techniques and Applications”, covering recent advances in novel microwave radar remote sensing techniques for Earth observation such as ocean and atmospheric parameter retrieval, process studies, oil spill detection, ocean winds, waves, currents, land cover classification, vegetation/ forest biomass/ structure, changes in vegetation parameters, snowpack and ice parameter retrieval over the Himalayas and subpolar and polar regions, sea ice monitoring, and soil moisture prediction. Furthermore, both natural and man-made disaster monitoring studies will be emphasized.
We welcome contributions to this issue and look forward to insightful submissions. This special issue invites submissions on novel radar polarimetry techniques and innovative polarimetric radar applications related to the following topics: -
PolSAR image analysis Applications of RISAT missions including EOS-4/ RISAT-1A Polarimetric scattering inversion algorithmsIonospheric effects on low frequency PolSAR measurementsTarget decomposition model developmentPolarimetric scattering model developmentPolarimetric radar optimization problemFuture polar and equatorially orbiting PolSAR satellite sensorsMonitoring the natural and man-made disaster damagesMulti-frequency SAR remote sensing and multi/temporal time series analysis3D and 4D PolSAR tomographyPolSAR and PolInSARLand surface parameters retrieval and degradationMulti-polarization and multifrequency radar for topography mappingSnow parameters retrieval using PoISAR and PolInSAR techniques.PolSAR techniques for glacier monitoringForest/ vegetation biophysical parameter estimation using PolSAR and PolInSARNatural resources mapping Polarimetric radar scatterometers and applicationsWater resources and coastal environmentsAdvanced methods for ship detection in PolSAR imageryIcebergs and sea-ice monitoringPolSAR correlation and similarity applicationsPost-strike damages detection Ground-based polarimetric radarOther topics: Highly relevant and promising applications of PolSAR
Lead Guest Editor: Prof. Gulab Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai
Guest Editors:
1. Dr. Raj Kumar, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), India
2. Dr. Thomas Ainsworth, Kent State University, USA
3. Prof. Josaphat Tetuko Sri Sumantyo, Chiba University, Japan
4. Dr. Jorge Arigony, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil
Submission Deadline: May 31, 2024