Éditeur(s) : Ieee-inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc
Résumé : The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Doppler centroid has been used to estimate the scatter line-of-sight radar velocity. In weak to moderate ocean surface current environment, the SAR Doppler centroid is dominated by the directionality and strength of wave-induced ocean surface displacements. In this paper, we show how this sea state signature can be used to improve surface wind retrieval from SAR. Doppler shifts of C-band radar return signals from the ocean are thoroughly investigated by colocating wind measurements from the ASCAT scatterometer with Doppler centroid anomalies retrieved from Envisat ASAR. An empirical geophysical model function (CDOP) is derived, predicting Doppler shifts at both VV and HH polarization as function of wind speed, radar incidence angle, and wind direction with respect to radar look direction. This function is used into a Bayesian inversion scheme in combination with wind from a priori forecast model and the normalized radar cross section (NRCS). The benefit of Doppler for SAR wind retrieval is shown in complex meteorological situations such as atmospheric fronts or low pressure systems. Using in situ information, validation reveals that this method helps to improve the wind direction retrieval. Uncertainty of the calibration of Doppler shift from Envisat ASAR hampers the inversion scheme in cases where NRCS and model wind are accurate and in close agreement. The method is however very promising with respect of future SAR missions, in particular Sentinel-1, where the Doppler centroid anomaly will be more robustly retrieved.
Ieee Transactions On Geoscience And Remote Sensing (0196-2892) (Ieee-inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc), 2012-07 , Vol. 50 , N. 7 , P. 2901-2909

Droits : 2012 IEEE
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00088/19896/17554.pdf
DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2011.2174998
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00088/19896/

Éditeur(s) : IEEE
Résumé : Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity, European Space Agency, is the first satellite mission addressing the challenge of measuring sea surface salinity from space. It uses an L-band microwave interferometric radiometer with aperture synthesis (MIRAS) that generates brightness temperature images, from which both geophysical variables are computed. The retrieval of salinity requires very demanding performances of the instrument in terms of calibration and stability. This paper highlights the importance of ocean salinity for the Earth's water cycle and climate; provides a detailed description of the MIRAS instrument, its principles of operation, calibration, and image-reconstruction techniques; and presents the algorithmic approach implemented for the retrieval of salinity from MIRAS observations, as well as the expected accuracy of the obtained results.
Proceedings of the IEEE (0018-9219) (IEEE), 2010-05 , Vol. 98 , N. 5 , P. 649-665

Droits : 2010 IEEE – All Rights Reserved
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00004/11482/8066.pdf
DOI:10.1109/JPROC.2009.2033096
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00004/11482/

Éditeur(s) : Ieee-inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc
Résumé : Analyzing the precision of vegetation height estimation with compact (i.e., single transmit instead of dual transmit) polarimetric interferometric synthetic aperture radar (PolInSAR) with the homogeneous random volume over ground model can help justify the use of this type of radar rather than using the full PolInSAR. However, since compact PolInSAR provides less information than full PolInSAR, a loss of precision in the vegetation height estimation is expected, which can depend on the single transmit polarization. The adaptation of the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) derived for full PolInSAR in our earlier work to compact PolInSAR measurement provides a general methodology to characterize this loss of precision. Indeed, the CRB is a lower bound of the variance of unbiased estimators that does not depend on the choice of a particular estimation method. We illustrate this methodology for P-band measurements with three synthetic examples chosen for their variability of polarimetric responses. For these examples, it is shown that there can exist a large set of transmit polarizations for which the loss of precision described by the CRB is small (smaller than a factor 2) although there also exist transmit polarizations for which the loss can be large (about a factor 100). This loss of precision is compared with the large dependency of the precision to the vegetation height estimation that can be observed with the vegetation height (more than a factor 100 in the precision described by the CRB) when all the other parameters of the vegetation, ground, and radar system are constant.
Ieee Transactions On Geoscience And Remote Sensing (0196-2892) (Ieee-inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc), 2014-03 , Vol. 52 , N. 3 , P. 1879-1891

Droits : Copyright 2014 IEEE - All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00174/28551/26968.pdf
DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2013.2256362
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00174/28551/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Mapping forest aboveground biomass (AGB) has become an important task, particularly for the reporting of carbon stocks and changes. AGB can be mapped using synthetic aperture radar data (SAR) or passive optical data. However, these data are insensitive to high AGB levels (>150 Mg/ha, and >300 Mg/ha for P-band), which are commonly found in tropical forests. Studies have mapped the rough variations in AGB by combining optical and environmental data at regional and global scales. Nevertheless, these maps cannot represent local variations in AGB in tropical forests. In this paper, we hypothesize that the problem of misrepresenting local variations in AGB and AGB estimation with good precision occurs because of both methodological limits (signal saturation or dilution bias) and a lack of adequate calibration data in this range of AGB values. We test this hypothesis by developing a calibrated regression model to predict variations in high AGB values (mean >300 Mg/ha) in French Guiana by a methodological approach for spatial extrapolation with data from the optical geoscience laser altimeter system (GLAS), forest inventories, radar, optics, and environmental variables for spatial inter-and extrapolation. Given their higher point count, GLAS data allow a wider coverage of AGB values. We find that the metrics from GLAS footprints are correlated with field AGB estimations (R 2 =0.54, RMSE=48.3 Mg/ha) with no bias for high values. First, predictive models, including remote-sensing, environmental variables and spatial correlation functions, allow us to obtain "wall-to-wall" AGB maps over French Guiana with an RMSE for the in situ AGB estimates of ~51 Mg/ha and R²=0.48 at a 1-km grid size. We conclude that a calibrated regression model based on GLAS with dependent environmental data can produce good AGB predictions even for high AGB values if the calibration data fit the AGB range. We also demonstrate that small temporal and spatial mismatches between field data and GLAS footprints are not a problem for regional and global calibrated regression models because field data aim to predict large and deep tendencies in AGB variations from environmental gradients and do not aim to represent high but stochastic and temporally limited variations from forest dynamics. Thus, we advocate including a greater variety of data, even if less precise and shifted, to better represent high AGB values in global models and to improve the fitting of these models for high values.
ISSN: 0303-2434

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01381116
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01381116
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01381116/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01381116/file/Fayad2016a.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.jag.2016.07.015

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
In Taiwan, about one third of the lithospheric plate convergence between Eurasia and the Philippine Sea plate is accommodated on the eastern coast across the narrow Longitudinal Valley (LV). The Longitudinal Valley Fault (LVF) is the main seismically active fault zone in this region. However, the spatial distribution of ground deformation due to interseismic loading on locked fault segments remains widely unknown. To address this problem, we use a "permanent scatterer" (PS) interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) approach for processing the ERS satellite archives. The PS mean velocity maps allow accurately mapping and quantifying the ground deformation all along the LV. Assuming that, close to the surface, the fault plane along the central LVF creeping segment dips 55 degrees to the east, we derive a slip vector at the surface of similar to 25 mm/yr with a mean rake of 70 degrees. In agreement with our PS observations, shallow seismicity indicates a clear change in the fault mechanical behavior of the creeping segment around Fuli town. Finally, we propose a combination of the PS velocity fields for estimating a 3-D map of ground deformation. In the southern part of the LV, the vertical component reveals an uplift of the Coastal Range with respect to the LV of similar to 10 mm/yr. Moreover, between Taitung and Luyeh, the vertical deformation is essentially accommodated along the Luyeh Strand. Finally, north of Rueisuei, the Coastal Range uniformly subsides at similar to 15 mm/yr relative to the western side of the LV. However, a local uplift pattern is detected around latitude 23 degrees 42'.
ISSN: 0148-0227

hal-00595532
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00595532
DOI : 10.1029/2010JB007898