The use of airborne P-band radar data for land use and land cover mapping in Brazilian Amazonia

The aim of this work was to analyze the potentiality of polarimetric P-band data for land use and land cover mapping in a site of the Brazilian Amazonia. These data are the first P-band image set gathered in the Brazilian Amazonia, so they represent a unique opportunity of analyzing the potentiality of this frequency for classification purposes. The stratification of land use/land cover classes was performed using a classification system specially developed for polarimetric data. Results showed that P-band data were able to discriminate forest and regeneration areas from crop, pasture and bare soil areas. Moreover, regeneration areas (older than 12 years) were successfully distinguished from primary forest and other regeneration stages.