Spatial Analysis for Radar Remote Sensing of Tropical Forests

This book provides a comprehensive approach to analyzing tropical forests using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mapping techniques. It focuses on multi-resolution spatial and temporal analysis of forest structure characteristics and changes, using a combination of space, scale, time, wavelength, and polarization domains. The book discusses various remote sensing projects and introduces novel wavelet methods for measuring tropical forest structural measures. It is suitable for students and researchers interested in this topic.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 335 pages
Publication date: 31 May 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book delves into the realm of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mapping, with a specific focus on the health of tropical forests, a subject of immense relevance in climate change studies. The author's extensive involvement in SAR mapping projects has shaped the foundation of this work, offering a unique perspective from the analysis of data across space, scale, time, wavelength, and polarization domains. By combining these dimensions, the book enables a virtual microscope-like capability to zoom in and out, revealing intricate details in tune with the underlying ecological phenomena. This approach allows for the exploration of statistical measures related to forest spatial distribution, such as backscatter observations, or canopy height variations, using interferometric SAR techniques.

The time dimension adds a valuable layer of insight, encompassing measures of ecosystem dynamics, such as the extent of flooding in swamp forests, deforestation or degradation events. The spotlight of the book is on radar spatial random fields, populated by either backscatter observations or elevation data from interferometric SAR. The fundamental principle underlying this approach is that the spatial statistics of these fields measured by wavelet variance carry fingerprints of the forest structure.

The book offers a wealth of features, making it a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the field. It uniquely focuses on specific techniques that provide multi-resolution spatial and temporal analysis of forest structure characteristics and changes. It examines several large and important international remote sensing projects aimed at documenting entire tropical ecosystems. Furthermore, the book introduces novel wavelet methods for tropical forest structural measures, offering a comprehensive approach to understanding the complex dynamics of these vital ecosystems.

To enhance accessibility and practicality, the book includes comprehensive Python code for a suite of wavelet-based time-series and single set InSAR coherence and backscatter speckle filters. These filters are readily available for download, enabling researchers to apply the discussed techniques in their own research endeavors. As the first book on this topic, this comprehensive work fills a significant gap in the literature, providing a valuable resource for scholars, researchers, and practitioners interested in advancing our understanding of tropical forests and their role in climate change.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 254 x 178 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367742669