Estimation of mangrove biomass using multifrequency radar data. Application to mangroves of French Guiana and Northern Australia

In this paper, the use of airborne polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for retreiving information on the structure and biomass of mangroves in the Pacific (Australia) and Atlantic (French Guiana) oceanic regions is considered. The study makes a comparison between the biomass and structure of the different communities and how these impact on the SAR response at different frequencies and polarisations. The future potential of SAR for generating baseline datasets of mangrove biomass and structure against which to evaluate change is suggested.