Identification of saline-alkali soil based on target decomposition of full-polarization radar data

Yangyang Li; Kai Zhao; Xingming Zheng; Jianhua Ren; Yanling Ding; Lili Wu

doi:10.1117/1.JRS.8.083511

5 December 2014 Identification of saline-alkali soil based on target decomposition of full-polarization radar data

Yangyang Li, Kai Zhao, Xingming Zheng, Jianhua Ren, Yanling Ding, Lili Wu

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, Vol. 8, Issue 1, 083511 (December 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.8.083511

Abstract

The potential of C-band polarimetric synthetic aperture radar data for the discrimination of saline-alkali soils in the western Jilin Province, China, is shown. This area is one of the three saline-alkali landscapes in the world; the presence of saline-alkali soils severely restricts the development of local farming and limits the land use. It is extremely important to identify saline-alkali landscapes accurately and effectively. Radar remote sensing is one of the most promising approaches for saline-alkali soil identification due to the sensitivity of radar data to the dielectric and geometric characteristics of objects, its weather-independent imaging capability, and its potential to acquire subsurface information, independent of the frequency band. Full polarimetric radar data from the RADARSAT-2 satellite were used. We focused on target decomposition theory and the statistical classification approach using a Wishart distribution to identify saline-alkali soils. The precise validation of the classification results is based on 129 ground sampling points. The results indicate that the polarimetric classifications using the H-α¯ method performed poorly, with Kappa values of approximately 0.29. The classification method based on Freeman-Durden decomposition showed better results, with Kappa values of approximately 0.54 and an overall accuracy of 68.22%. The best result was achieved using an input of anisotropy, with Kappa values of approximately 0.62 and an overall accuracy of 74.42%. The validity of the anisotropy approach implies that the scattering randomness of saline-alkali soil is very strong, which reflects the complex scattering characteristics of saline-alkali landscapes. Further study of the scattering characteristics of saline-alkali soil is necessary.

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Yangyang Li, Kai Zhao, Xingming Zheng, Jianhua Ren, Yanling Ding, and Lili Wu "Identification of saline-alkali soil based on target decomposition of full-polarization radar data," Journal of Applied Remote Sensing 8(1), 083511 (5 December 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.8.083511

Published: 5 December 2014

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