EO·Atlas
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.
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
- 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.
- 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.
Measures millimetre-scale ground surface displacement by comparing phase differences between repeat SAR passes; good for subsidence, earthquake deformation, and volcanic monitoring.
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.
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.
- [1]Wikipedia: Synthetic-aperture radarcommunity2026-05-22
Edited from public sources. Last reviewed date pending by SpectraWorks editorial. See the data dictionary for field definitions.