Use of ERS SAR interferometric coherence and PRI images to evaluate crop height and soil moisture and to identify crops

The aim of the present project was to identify the capabilities of multitemporal ERS SAR interferometric coherence and PRI images to evaluate soil moisture, to estimate crop height and to identify crops for four crop types (winter wheat, potato, sugar beet and maize) and for different pilot fields. The coherence images acquired during the winter and spring seasons can be used to identify bare or nearly bare fields with a threshold value, and then PRI images were used to quantify soil moisture value for each bare field. The coherence images acquired during the growing season were used to evaluate crop height for each studied crop type. Moreover, the coherence image provided some additional information to PRI images for the crop type identification. This study was carried out in the framework of the PRODEX program financed by the Belgian Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural affairs (OSTC) and the European Space Agency (ESA).