DEPENDENCE OF RADAR BACKSCATTER ON CONIFEROUS FOREST BIOMASS

Two independent experimental efforts have examined the dependence of radar backscatter on aboveground biomass of mono specie conifer forests using polarimetric airborne SAR data at P-, L- and C-bands. Plantations of maritime pines near Landes, France range in age from 8 to 46 years with aboveground biomass between 5 and 105 tons/ha. Loblolly pine stands established on abandoned agricultural fields near Duke, NC range in age from 4 to 90 years and extend the range of aboveground biomass to 560 tons/ha for the older stands. These two experimental forests are largely complementary with respect to biomass. Radar backscatter is found to increase approximately linearly with increasing biomass until it saturates at a biomass level that depends on the radar frequency. The biomass saturation level is about 200 tons/ha at P-band and 100 tons/ha at L-band, and the C-band backscattering coefficient shows much less sensitivity to total aboveground biomass.