TerraSAR-X backscatter and 11-day interferometric coherence time series of one year (2012-2013) for different landscape types in the Lena River Delta, Siberia, link to shape file ...

• Main Authors: Antonova, Sofia, Kääb, Andreas, Heim, Birgit, Langer, Moritz, Boike, Julia
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2016
• Subjects: lena river; Tundra; Siberia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.873553; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.873553

Time series of TerraSAR-X backscatter intensity and 11-day interferometric coherence with high temporal resolution have been used to interpret major seasonal land surface changes in a variety of tundra environments, namely an area of wet polygonal tundra, a drier Ice Complex upland area, a recently drained well-vegetated lake basin, a partly well-vegetated floodplain, a bare sandbank, and a very dry area of rocky outcrops. Seasonal variations in intensity and coherence were evaluated in the context of meteorological conditions such as air temperatures, precipitation and snow cover status. The TSX signal appeared to have very limited penetration through vegetation and the observed variations in backscatter and coherence were therefore mainly attributed to processes in the upper layer of vegetation. Variations in the TSX backscatter intensities were mostly moderate throughout the annual cycle. Backscatter was found to be insensitive to ground freezing and thawing as well as being generally insensitive to ... : Input dataset includes 35 repeat-pass StripMap TerraSAR-X images acquired over the central Lena River Delta, Siberia, from 3 August 2012 to 14 September 2013 every 11 days with a few gaps. TerraSAR-X is a Synthetic Aperture Radar operating in X-band (wavelength 3.1 cm, frequency 9.6 GHz). The scene size measured approximately 18 × 56 km. The orbit was in descending pass and the radar was right-looking. The acquisition incidence angle was approximately 31° and the polarization channel was HH for all used images. Local time of acquisitions was 08:34 (UTC: 22:34). 35 backscatter intensity images, calibrated to sigma nought and converted to decibels, were obtained. 31 coherence images, each with a temporal baseline of 11 days, were obtained from interferometric pairs of coregistered TerraSAR-X images.Six regions of interest (ROIs), each with dimensions of 30 × 30 pixels, within the SAR scene were chosen. These ROIs represented typical different landscape types that were likely to exhibit different seasonal ...