Methodology · SAR processing

Polarimetric SAR - target decomposition

Decomposes backscatter into scattering mechanisms (surface, double-bounce, volume) using multi-polarisation data; good for forest structure estimation, urban mapping, and soil moisture retrieval.

How it works

Uses coherence or covariance matrix decomposition (Pauli, Freeman-Durden, Cloude-Pottier). Requires fully polarimetric (quad-pol) acquisition, which most operational sensors do not acquire by default. Wikipedia: Synthetic-aperture radar

Topics this serves

Topic

Fit

Forest structure and biomassfirst choice

Biodiversity and habitatsuitable

Illegal and unregulated fishingsuitable

Sea icesuitable

Soil moisturesuitable

Urban changesuitable

Vessel trackingsuitable

Crop-type mappingadequate

Existing implementations

Demonstrated

PALSAR-2
MetaSAR-L
BelSAR 2018 fully polarimetric (HH/HV/VH/VV) acquisitions support polarimetric SAR decomposition
MetaSAR-X
SAR-C (Gaofen-3) via Gaofen-3 (GF-3)
Gaofen-3 SAR-C public summaries report full-polarization SAR imaging and single, dual and quad polarisation support.
NISAR L-band SAR via NISAR
NISAR nisar-l-band-sar supports SAR imaging, repeat-pass InSAR, and polarimetric SAR modes per NASA/ISRO mission sources.
NISAR S-band SAR via NISAR
NISAR nisar-s-band-sar supports SAR imaging, repeat-pass InSAR, and polarimetric SAR modes per NASA/ISRO mission sources.
CSG-SAR via COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation
CSG-SAR supports single, dual and quadruple polarisation modes.
SAR-L (SAOCOM L-band SAR) via SAOCOM-1A
SAR-L is identified as a polarimetric L-band SAR.
SAR-C (EOS-04) via EOS-04
EOS-04 calibration source describes Stripmap and ScanSAR hybrid polarimetric data used for polarimetric decomposition sensitivity analysis.

Capable, undemonstrated

C-SAR
MetaSAR-C
MetaSAR-C full quad-pol HH/HV/VH/VV supports polarimetric SAR decomposition
SAR-X (RISAT-2 series)
WMO OSCAR lists HH, VV, HV and VH SAR-X modes; kept as capable because the public source does not assert quad-pol target decomposition.
SAR-2000
SAR-2000 supports multi-polarisation and ping-pong acquisition; kept as capable for target decomposition pending method-specific validation.
TerraSAR-X SAR
TerraSAR-X supports polarimetric acquisition modes, enabling polarimetric SAR decomposition workflows.

Related methodologies

InSAR - surface deformation
Measures millimetre-scale ground surface displacement by comparing phase differences between repeat SAR passes; good for subsidence, earthquake deformation, and volcanic monitoring.
SAR backscatter imaging
Synthetic-aperture radar amplitude imaging: measures the surface normalized radar cross-section (sigma-nought) at high spatial resolution, day-night and cloud-independent. The base SAR sensing method underlying ocean wind retrieval, wave-mode spectra, flood mapping, and change detection.
Radar scatterometry
Real-aperture radar that measures normalized radar cross-section from multiple azimuth angles to retrieve ocean surface wind vectors (speed and direction) over wide swaths at ~12-25 km resolution. Distinct from SAR: non-imaging, coarse-resolution, optimised for global daily wind fields.

Sources

[1]Wikipedia: Synthetic-aperture radarcommunity2026-05-22

Methodology

Edited from public sources. Last reviewed 2026-05-22 by SpectraWorks editorial. See the data dictionary for field definitions.

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https://eo-atlas.org/topics/methodologies/polarimetric-sar-decomposition

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How to cite this page

Plain text

Polarimetric SAR - target decomposition. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V., last reviewed 2026-05-22. https://eo-atlas.org/topics/methodologies/polarimetric-sar-decomposition (CC BY 4.0)

BibTeX

@misc{eoatlas:topics:methodologies:polarimetric-sar-decomposition,
  title = {Polarimetric SAR - target decomposition},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Last reviewed 2026-05-22. CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/topics/methodologies/polarimetric-sar-decomposition}
}