Lab24:SyntheticApertureRadar(SAR)

InthislabyouwillworkwithtwoSyntheticApertureRadar(SAR)imagesacquiredover BonanzaCreekExperimentalForestLongTermEcologicalResearch(LTER)sitenear Fairbanks,Alaska.Thereisalsoascannedaerialphotomosaicoftheareatohelpyou withtheinterpretation.Notethatinterpretationofradarimageryisdifficultandnot necessarilyobvious,sodontworryifyouhavesometroublefiguringtheseimagesout. IdeallyonewouldspendsometimeinAlaskagettingafeelforthelandscapethere! ThanksgotoAmyParkerWilliams(formerBotanygradstudent)fordevelopingthis exercise.Shehelpedteachthisclassinpreviousyears. Youwillthreefilesintheclassdatadirectory:bc13.img,bc19.imgandbonanza.img. Thesefilescontainthefollowing: Image Band Date Conditions bc13.img 1.LbandHH 13March1988 Unseasonablywarm 2.LbandHV 3.LbandVV 4.PbandHH 5.PbandHV 6.PbandVV bc19.img 1.CbandHH 19March1988 Wellbelowfreezing, 2.CbandHV snow,iceonriver 3.CbandVV 4.LbandHH 5.LbandHV 6.LbandVV bonanza.img Scannedairphoto 1.Openbonanza.imginanErdasViewerwindowasaTrueColorimagebyassigning bands1tored,2togreenand3toblue.Inspectthisairphotoandfamiliarizeyourself withthecharacteristicsofthearea(usethezoomtool,etc.tolookmoreclosely). Rotatetheimage180degreessothatitcorrespondstotheradardatawewillbeusing. Todothis,fromtheViewerbarmenuchooseView/Rotate/180o. Theforestsalongthefloodplainareprimarilyyoungsuccessionalstandsofwhitespruce andbalsampoplar.Theuplandforestatthetopoftheimageisprimarilyblackspruce. Areasalongtheriveraredominatedbymudbanksandsandbarsdevoidofvegetation. Noticealloftheclearcutsthatarevisibleintheimageaslighter,geometricallyshaped areas. 1

2.Leavetheairphoto(bonanza.img)openforreference.OpenasecondViewerand openthebc13image(bc13.img)asacolorcompositebyassigningbands1,2and3to red,greenandbluerespectively(thisisacompositeofthethreedifferentLband polarizations).ThisSARimageisonlythecenterportionoftheairphotoyouobserved earlier.Orientyourselftotheriverandthevegetationtypesyoufoundintheairphoto. Whyistherivermagenta?(Hint:Magenta=equalamountsoftheprimarycolorsRed andBlue?). Whyaresomevegetatedareasuniformlybright(whitish)andothermagenta? Canyouseetheclearcuts?Whyorwhynot? 3.NowopenathirdViewerwindowandopenbc19.imgasaTrueColorcomposite butassignband4,5and6tored,greenandbluerespectively.Thisisacolorcomposite oftheLbands3polarizationsjustasin#2above,butonadifferentdate.Comparethe twoimagesbyputtingthetwowindowssidebysideandsizingthemsothattheyare aboutthesamesize.Whatdifferencesdoyounotice?(Notetheweatherchangethat occurred). WhyaredetailslessclearintheMarch19thimage(bc19)?Forexample,examinethe clearcutstotheleftofthemaincentralmeanderineachimage. Whyisthecolorofportionsoftheriverdifferentinthetwoimages? 4.Youhaveprobablynoticedbynowthattheradarimageshavespeckle(pixelto pixelvariation).Thisiscausedbypositiveandnegativewaveinterferencethatincreases thepixeltopixelvarianceandmakesinterpretationoftheimagesmoredifficult. Filteringcanbeusedinthiscasetoreducethespeckle(alsosometimescalledsalt andpepper).FromthemainErdasmenubar,chooseInterpreter/Spatial Enhancement/FocalAnalysis.Amenuwillappear.UnderFunctionchooseMedian fromthepulldownmenuchoices.Foryourinputfilebrowsetobc13.img.Foroutput browsetoyourdirectoryandtypeinbc13_medianandclickOK(twice).Filterthe imagebypressingOKonthefilteringmenu.Repeattheaboveforbc19.img. 2

 Displaybc13.imgandbc13_median.imgintwosidebysideViewers.Howdotheimages compareintermsofspeckle? A3x3pixelmedianfilter,liketheoneyoujustused,worksbyassigningthemedian valueofthepixelsina3x3pixelwindowtothepixelinthecenterofthewindow.In thiswaysomeofthevariationbetweenpixelsissmoothedout. Comparebc19.imgandbc19_median.imgthesameway. 5.ClosealloftheViewersthatyouhaveopentocleanupyourdesktop.Openbc13.img asbefore(Bands1,2,3=RGB)andbc19.imgasbefore(Bands4,5,6=RGB).Youwillnow examinewhichwavelengths(Cband,LbandorPbandinorderofincreasing wavelength)andwhichpolarizations(HH,HV,VV)havethegreatestreturnbetween datesandbetweenvegetationtypes. FromtheViewertoolbarchooseRaster/ProfileTools/Spectraltoopenachartwindow. Dothisforeachofthetwoimagesandarrangethewindowssothatyoucanseeallfour windows(makethechartforeachimagerelativelysmallsothatyoucankeepthe imagesrelativelylarge).Byusingthecrosshair(+)buttononeachViewer,youcan selectindividualpixelsforeachimageandcomparethem.Selectpointsfromthesame areasoneachimagesothatyoucancomparethetwocharts.Besuretochoose examplesintheriver,ontheriverfloodplain,andintheblackspruceuplandforest.Do onepointfromeachimageandthencomparechartsbeforeaddingthenextpoint. Whichband(wavelength)hasthehighestreturnoneachofthetwodates? Whichpolarizationhasthehighestreturn? Whyarethetwodatesdifferent? Whyaredifferentpointswithinanimagedifferent? Whatkindsofbackscattering(orreflectance)maybeoccurring?

6.Ifyouhavetime,exploretheindividualradarbandsineachimageandexperiment withdifferentcolorcomposites.Canyoufindbandcombinationsthatareespecially goodathighlightingvariousfeaturesintheimage(e.g.,spruce)?