TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF POLINSAR BASED FOREST HEIGHT INVERSION FOR TECTONA GRANDIS AND EUCALYPTUS PLANTATIONS

Polarimetric SAR Interferometry is extensively used for forest biophysical parameter estimation. The variability of PolInSAR height for acquisitions in different seasons is discussed. Deciduous trees such as teak shed leaves during dry season, which for Indian tropical forests can start as early as January. X-band TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X PolInSAR data sets are acquired over teak and non-teak plantations before and during leaf-fall. The accuracy assessment between PolInSAR height and field based measurements is carried out and results are presented. It was observed that the accuracy of height estimation increases for acquisition during leaf-fall season, with the RMSE decreasing from 4.1 m to 3.2 m for December and February acquisitions respectively. However species wise accuracy analysis shows some interesting results which are presented in the paper.