Monitoring ecological dynamics in Africa with the ERS-1 scatterometer
- 19 November 2002
- conference paper
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Vol. 2, 1523-1525 vol.2
- https://doi.org/10.1109/igarss.1995.521798
Abstract
Radar backscatter measurements obtained over Africa by the C-band scatterometer aboard the First European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) are analyzed for the period from November 1991 to December 1994. The predominant signal in this time series is the annual variation of the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) in the savanna regions north and south of the tropical rain forest. The change in the incidence angle dependence of the NRCS as well as the increase in radar cross section correlates well with the precipitation rate and indicates an instantaneous onset of vegetation growth during the rainy season. In particular the exceptional high rain rates in 1994 as well as the drought in 1991/92 in southern Africa are well reflected in the NRCS data.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Large scale radar signatures of the land surface measured by the ERS-1 scatterometerPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2002
- Global land surface monitoring using the ERS-1 scatterometerPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2002