Tower-based radar and geophysical measurements during the BorealScat experiment

Research Project, 2016 – 2020

The objectives of the project is to design and construct a tower-based radar and are to acquire polarimetric, tomographic radar measurements at P-, L- and C-band over a boreal or hemi-boreal site to enable the analysis of temporal radar signatures in a sparse forest and a highly dynamic environment including snow, freeze/thaw and leaf/needles on/off cycles. The goal is to provide fundamental information of radar scattering mechanisms as a function of time and to support the design of forest biomass retrieval algorithms at the different frequencies and using different techniques, i.e.
- The long-term characterization of scattering signatures (intensity, phase and coherence) and scattering mechanisms on P/L/C-band over boreal forest on scales ranging from daily, weekly and monthly to yearly.
- Coherence statistics as a function of time, environmental conditions and location within the canopy
- The identification and characterization of the main environmental effects environmental (e.g. moisture, freezing etc.) on the radar signatures.
- The validity of scattering models to characterize boreal forests as well as possible mitigation schemes to correct for nuisance effects (such as moisture variations)

These objectives shall be achieved through the installation of a P/L/C-band radar system on a 50 m high Tower in Remingstorp/Sweden, built on the heritage of the TropiScat campaign in French Guyana and AfriScat in Ghana. In addition to the radar data, co-located ancillary data shall be collected to support the interpretation of the observed radar signals. The campaign shall generate quality datasets that will support the analysis of the main objectives listed above.