In-Land Water Bodies Observation Through Airborne L-band Quad-Polarimetric SAR Imaging

The understanding of the spatial-temporal distribution of small in-land water bodies is a key point when dealing with the management of potable and irrigation water resources, the preservation of local ecosystems and biodiversity as well as to develop effective strategies in respond to flooding event. In this context, airborne and satellite remote sensing tools represent a valuable source for in-land water body mapping at different spatio-temporal scales. In this study, we investigate the potential of full-polarimetric synthetic aperture radar measurements collected at L-band by a very high resolution airborne imaging system to address the waterline extraction task over a small in-land water body. A state-of-the-art coastline extraction algorithm is adopoted and specified with respect to the specific morphological features and scattering behavior of a small basin. The performance of different metrics, including single-polarization backscattering intesities, and some child parameters derived from the complete coherency matrix, are analyzed in terms of waterline extraction accuracy.