Abstract

Satellite-based active microwave sensors have been successfully employed for a wide range of vegetation and soil studies. Spaceborne microwave instruments have proven particularly useful for wide-scale monitoring of the vegetation, especially under conditions that limit the effectiveness of high-resolution optical sensors. Satellite scatterometry can be used to detect and model deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by correlating changes in the C-band backscatter data to observed changes in vegetation coverage. The exploratory methodology developed in this paper applies the longest continuous microwave satellite record to the problem of deforestation. The backscatter measurements taken by the ERS and ASCAT missions provide more than 30 years of data that has been successfully applied to classify vegetation on a global scale. This research investigates the effectiveness of C-band scatterometer data for detecting anthropogenic changes in rainforest and grassland vegetation, opening the possibility for microwave-based historical deforestation records.

Degree

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/