EFFECTS OF SAR DATA-FOCUSING PARAMETERS ON THE EFFICIENCY OF DISCRIMINATING TUNDRA HABITAT

This study investigated the influence of synthetic aperture radar (SAR ) data-focusing parameters on the efficiency of tundra landcover and t errain type classification. IBM-PC/AT-compatible software was develope d for synthesizing images from the raw SAR data and the complex SAR im ages. Options were included for specifying the number of data-focusing ''looks'', which controls spatial resolution, as well as a set of win dow functions for flexible adjustment of the synthesized gain pattern. The results of applying systematic image classification methods to th e derived SAR images suggest that an optimal combination of SAR data-f ocusing parameters may exist for every ground-derived classification s cheme.