Joint use of multiple Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery for the detection of bivalve beds and morphological changes on intertidal flats

We analyzed a large amount of high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data of dry-fallen intertidal flats on the German North Sea coast with respect to the imaging of sediments, macrophytes, and mussels. TerraSAR-X and Radarsat-2 images of four test areas acquired from 2008 to 2013 form the basis for the present investigation and are used to demonstrate that pairs of SAR images, if combined through basic algebraic operations, can already provide indicators for morphological changes and for bivalve (oyster and mussel) beds. Multi-temporal analyses of series of SAR images allow detecting bivalve beds, since the radar backscattering from those beds is generally high, whereas that from sediments may vary with imaging geometry and environmental conditions. Our results further show evidence that also single-acquisition, dual-polarization SAR imagery can be used in this respect. The polarization coefficient (i.e., the ratio of the difference and the sum of both co-polarizations) can be used to infer indicators for oyster and blue-mussel beds.