In this study, a novel approach is proposed to extract dynamic information about Terra Nova Bay (TNB) polynya, Antarctica, using a single Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery collected by the Sentinel-1 mission. The proposed approach is based on a joint scattering/morphological and spectral analysis of key features, namely the sea ice streaks, that characterise polynyas. A set of single- and dual-polarimetric SAR Sentinel-1 measurements collected over the open TNB polynya under different growing and closing phases are used for the experimental analysis, which is assisted by ancillary optical and radiometer satellite products. Experimental results demonstrate the ability of co-polarised backscattering to identify the open polynya growing and closing phases using a single SAR scene. This suggests using SAR measurements to fill the temporal and spatial gaps arising from the monitoring of the harsh TNB polynya environment.

This study focuses on the capability of extracting the waterline in different cases using quad-polarimetric (QP) X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) measurements. A baseline unsupervised waterline extraction scheme is applied which is feed with single-, dual- and quad-polarimetric features to assess the role of polarimetric information. Two different scenarios are accounted for: i) a sandy and gently coastal profile; ii) an inland steep water bodies. The study areas are identified in the Ionian coast of Basilicata region, south of Italy, where QP SAR images collected by the Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation (CSG) Italian satellite constellation are collected over the Metaponto Plain and the San Giuliano dammed artifical lake, respectively. Preliminary results obtained from the inland water body suggest that full-polarimetric CSG SAR data have potential to be used to perform unsupervised waterline extraction, even though the specific water conditions and coastal morphology must be carefully accounted for.

This study is to discuss the speckle statistics in terms of sea surface roughness and, specifically, in terms of near sea surface wind speed. A data set of Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar scenes, acquired under different wind regimes, is processed using normalized intensity moments.

In this study, co- and cross-polarised backscattering signatures over the Terra Nova Bay (Antarctica) coastal polynya imaged by the C-band synthetic aperture radar are discussed. The Terra Nova Bay polynya is of the most important seasonal melting/freezing processes that characterize polar regions by severely impacting ocean circulation and sea ice mass balance. A set of dual-polarimetric synthetic aperture radar measurements collected at C-band over the Terra Nova Bay polynya under different opening and closing conditions are analyzed with the support of ice surface temperature information obtained from optical satellite images. Numerical simulations of backscattering coefficients are also provided according to the improved integral equation method surface scattering model to interpret polynya signatures with and without ice streaks.Experimental results show the potential of dual-polarimetric backscatter coefficients to identify the polynya and its actual conditions and to provide information on its temporal trend even when a single synthetic aperture radar image is available.

In this study, a scattering analysis of wind turbines is performed using a multi-frequency and multi-polarisation synthetic aperture radar dataset. The latter includes L-, C- and X-band synthetic aperture radar imagery collected by Alos PalSAR-2, Sentinel-1 and PAZ, respectively. Multi-polarization normalized radar cross sections and reflecion symmetry are considered to characterize the backscattering properties of the Robin Rigg offshore wind farm (Solway Firth, UK) turbines, whose features are evaluated with reference to a target-free surrounding sea surface. The experimental results show that the detectability of the wind turbines is severely influenced by the incident wavelength, with the reflection symmetry being a robust and effective parameter to characterize wind turbines. Co-polarized backscattering is always larger than the corresponding cross-polarized one at that HH-polarized backscattering is larger at L-band rather than at X-band, while the C-band VV-polarized backscattering is the lowest. Considering cross-polarized channel, wind turbines call for the largest (lowest) backscattering at X-band (C-band). Results also show that wind turbines are characterized by a correlation between co- and cross-polarized channels much larger than the surrounding sea surface, which satisfies reflection symmetry. In particular, the HH-HV correlation is, on average, larger at X-rather than L-band, while the C-band VV-VH correlation is much lower.

This study is to analyze the multi-polarization backscattering from intertidal areas using polarimetric synthetic aperture radar imagery collected by the X-band Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation satellite mission. In this study, we focus on the Solway Firth (Scotland) area that includes different habitats as wetland, salt marshes, sand dunes, and mudflats. In particular, mudflats presents a large variability of normalized radar cross section that may limit significantly the classification performance of intensity-based approaches. Within this context, for the first time, we exploit full-polarimetric Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation imagery collected in StripMap mode.

In this study, a multi-frequency analysis on the polarimetric scattering of harsh coastal environments is addressed. The polarimetric properties of different scattering scenarios including grasslands and agricultural crops over land, mudflats and sea water are analyzed using the polarization signatures and the correlation between the co-polarized channels. To this purpose, C- and X-band quad-polarimetric synthetic aperture radar satellite measurements are collected over the Solway Firth, along the western coastal area at the borders between England and Scotland. The Solway Firth coastal area represents a meaningful showcase since it consists of a mixture of harsh environments resulting from different meteo-marine conditions and natural/anthropogenic coastal processes, e.g., erosion, tides, sedimentation, storms, sea currents. Preliminary results obtained at C-band show that polarimetric analysis tools allow improving the understanding of natural and anthropogenic processes in harsh coastal environments that may support the development of advanced and robust scattering-based algorithms for coastal management purposes.