Time series spectral characteristics and backscattering signatures of aquatic plant functional types over the Poyang Lake Wetland, China

Abstract

We used time series Beijing-1 images and ASAR WSM images in the classification of wetland aquatic macrophytes in terms of aquatic plant functional types (PFTs). We found that: (1) after speckle noise filtering, sensor systematic calibration within the same polarization and relative radiation calibration between different polarization, and accurate geo-registration, time series radar data could improve the separation among aquatic plant functional types. (2) hydrophytes from different aquatic PFTs exhibit distinct phenological, structural, moisture and roughness characteristics due to the impact of the annual water inundation of Poyang Lake wetland.(3) phenological curves and permittivity curves extracted from time series Beijing-1 images and ASAR WSM images provide vital information for distinguishing different aquatic PFTs. Multi-sensor image combination could complement previous data for time series aquatic PFT analysis.