The capability of SAR interferometry has been previously demonstrated in va
rious applications. In particular, the use of interferometric coherence has
shown promising results in forest monitoring, however, mainly in discrimin
ating forested and nonforested areas, We have collected ERS-1 and ERS-2 Tan
dem data from two Boreal forest test sites in Finland, The data have been p
rocessed into interferometric coherence and intensity images. These images
have been used to a) compare the behavior of interferometric coherence and
intensity for various land-use and forest classes and b) extensive analysis
on the behavior of interferometric coherence in Boreal forests as a functi
on of stem volume. Based on the observations and the use of a Boreal forest
semi-empirical backscattering model, we have developed an empirical model
that describes interferometric coherence of Boreal forests using backscatte
ring information. The results indicate that coherence is more sensitive to
the stem volume than the C-band backscattering intensity, However, the inte
nsity and coherence data contain complementary information and therefore, t
he use of both data sources is beneficial in the observation of Boreal fore
st.