1 Regional Remote Sensing Service Centre (RRSSC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) 4, Kalidas Road, Dehradun-248 001, India, E-mail: hari_space@yahoo.com 2 Space Applications Centre (SAC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Satellite Road Ahmedabad – 380 015, India, E-mail: parul@sac.isro.gov.in; ranganath@sac.isro.gov.in 3 Department of Physics, Feroz Gandhi Post Graduate College, Rae Bareli – 229 00, India E-mail: Yamini_2001@rediffmail.com

Abstract

Forest cover mapping based upon species identification and forest density is an important activity for forest management. Forest density is an important parameter in biomass estimation, which in turn is crucial for global environmental monitoring. In this paper forest density mapping has been attempted using SAR Interferometry technique. This has been achieved by exploiting the interferometric coherence, which is inversely related to the magnitude of random dislocation of scatterers between the two passes. Study indicates that interferometric coherence decreases with increase in forest density. Study suggests that interferometric coherence is an independent parameter and it provides valuable information, which is completely different from SAR backscatter. It is also observed that synergic use of SAR backscatter with InSAR coherence significantly enhances the sensitivity of SAR system as a whole for forestry applications.