RAIN-INDUCED MODIFICATION OF SAR
PERFORMANCE

P. Ferrazzoli and G. Schiavon

Abstract

The performance degradation suffered by a microwave remote sensing SAR system due to the presence of rain is analysed. In particular, alterations caused by attenuation, backscatter and depolarization due to the presence of a rain cell along a swath is estimated. Furthermore, a global evaluation of the degradation as a function of the rain intensity is carried out by using a proper parameter. Numerical calculations are performed for some typical SAR configurations at 10 GHz; suitable models for the interaction of electromagnetic waves with raindrops are used.

Index Terms---X-band SAR, rain cell, depolarization, attenuation, backscatter

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