Comparative Analysis of the Sensitivity of SAR Data in C and L Bands for the Detection of Irrigation Events

Comprehensive knowledge about irrigation timing is crucial for water resource management. This paper presents a comparative analysis between C- and L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data for the detection of irrigation events. The analysis was performed using C-band time series data derived from the Sentinel-1 (S1) satellite and two L-band images from the PALSAR-2 (ALOS-2) sensor acquired over irrigated grassland plots in the Crau plain of southeast France. The S1 C-band time series was first analyzed as a function of rainfall and irrigation events. The backscattering coefficients in both the L and C bands were then compared to the time difference between the date of the acquired SAR image and the date of the last irrigation event occurring before the SAR acquisition (∆t). Sensitivity analysis was performed for 2 classes of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI ≤ 0.7 and NDVI > 0.7). The main results showed that when the vegetation is moderately developed (NDVI ≤ 0.7), the C-band temporal variation remains sensitive to the soil moisture dynamics and the irrigation events could be detected. The C-VV signal decreases due to the drying out of the soil when the time difference between the S1 image and irrigation event increases. For well-developed vegetation cover (NDVI > 0.7), the C-band sensitivity to irrigation events becomes dependent on the crop type. For well-developed Gramineae grass with longs stalks and seedheads, the C band shows no correlation with ∆t due to the absence of the soil contribution in the backscattered signal, contrary to the legume grass type, where the C band shows a good correspondence between C-VV and ∆t for NDVI > 0.7. In contrast, analysis of the L-band backscattering coefficient shows that the L band remains sensitive to the soil moisture regardless of the vegetation cover development and the vegetation characteristics, thus being more suitable for irrigation detection than the C band. The L-HH signal over Gramineae grass or legume grass types shows the same decreasing pattern with the increase in ∆t, regardless of the NDVI-values, presenting a decrease in soil moisture with time and thus high sensitivity of the radar signal to soil parameters. Finally, the copolarizations for both the C and L bands (L-HH and C-VV) tend to be more adequate for irrigation detection than the HV cross-polarization, as they show higher sensitivity to soil moisture values.