Assessment of compact polarimetry over different tropical environment and dataset

This paper presents different radar polarimetric modes over different study sites in Tropical environment: Full polarimetry (FP), Dual Polarimetry (DP) and Compact Polarimetry (CP). By using SVM classification, we show the capabilities of each polarimetric mode linked to the scattering model assumption of the fully polarimetric reconstruction for CP mode proposed by Souyris et al‥ We are focused on 3 study sites which have different landscape: Tubuai in French Polynesia (AIRSAR data), the Fazenda Sao Nicolau in Brazil and Cayenne in French Guyana (PALSAR data). It shown that the reflection symmetry assumption may not be verified due to spatial heterogeneity or due to the definition of the study classes. Even if the choice of the DP modes is strongly dependant of the study site, the CP mode have shown equivalent or better overall accuracy than the other DP modes, particularly when the study area are very homogeneous.