Full and partial radar polarimetry for the monitoring of terrestrial surfaces

This article presents some illustrations of (fully or partial) polarimetric radar data applications for the monitoring of terrestrial surfaces. The first part is dedicated to fully polarimetric radar data. Firstly, a theoretical reminder presents the specificity of fully polarimetric data. Then illustrations are given for vegetation types cartography as well as spatio-temporal processes of sedimentation in a semi-ahd area in Tunisia. The second part focuses on partially polahmetric data, of the type acquired by the Sentinel-1 A/1 B satellite SAR sensors, which will be widely used in future years due to their significant conthbution to land surface observations studies for environmental sciences. © 2019 Soc. Francaise de Photogrammetrie et de Teledetection. All rights reserved.