Full-polarimetric SAR measurements for coastline extraction and coastal area classification

In this study, full-polarimetric synthetic aperture radar measurements are used for coastline extraction and to provide a rough classification of the inland area close to the extracted coastline according to the dominant scattering mechanisms. Scattering-based parameters, derived from the Freeman–Durden (FD) decomposition, are exploited to both extract the coastline and classify the inland area. With respect to coastline extraction, a challenging scenario that includes sandy beaches is considered and experimental results demonstrate that the FD surface component provides the best performance in terms of accuracy in detecting the sandy beach. With respect to the inland area classification, FD components are shown to provide useful information on the dominant scattering mechanisms that characterize the imaged area. This information, together with the extracted coastline, can be used to generate risk maps that help coastal area management.