STUDY OF THE GROUND VEGETATION SYSTEM IN THE GUIANA TROPICAL RAIN-FOREST WITH SCATTEROMETER IN A NADIR LOOKING

The French ERASME scatterometer has been used in a nadir looking, high resolution mode over the tropical rain forest in French Guiana. The p urpose of that campaign was to test the ability of the radar to detect the vertical structure of the forest and the properties of the underl aying ground. In situ investigations were conducted simultaneously, sa mpling the soils properties and recording in eight plots the architect ural profile of the forest along the radar track. The comparison of ra dar and ground data confirms the usefulness of ERASME. It is a pertine nt tool for forest studies. Four principal groups of soils were distin guished. The backscattered signal provides a good description of the v ertical structure of the biomass; basal area, tree density, and forest height were estimated. Possibilities for the development of such a ra dar are discussed; it is clearly powerful and well adapted for use in tropical forest where penetration is very difficult.