Radar Remote Sensing for Crop Biophysical Parameter Estimation

Introduction.- Basic theory of radar polarimetry.- Vegetation models: Empirical and Theoretical approaches.- Evolution of Semi-empirical approach: Modeling and Inversion.- Biophysical parameter retrieval using full and dual-pol SAR data.- Biophysical parameter retrieval using compact-pol SAR data.- Radar vegetation indices for crop growth monitoring.- Summary and Conclusions.

Dr. Dipankar Mandal received his B.Tech. degree in agricultural engineering from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, India, in 2015, and M.Tech + Ph.D. dual degree in Geoinformatics and Natural Resources Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai, India, in 2020. He was a visiting researcher with the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Ottawa, Canada, and Carleton University, Ottawa, from October 2018 to February 2019. As a visiting researcher, he contributed to the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Intercomparison experiment for crop biophysical parameter estimation within the Joint Experiment for Crop Assessment and Monitoring (JECAM) network of GEO Global Agricultural Monitoring. His research interests include applications of SAR polarimetry for crop classification, vegetation biophysical parameter estimation, deriving radar vegetation indices and yield forecasting. Dr. Mandal was a recipient of the Shastri Research Student Fellowship 2018-2019 Award by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, India. 
Dr. Avik Bhattacharya received his integrated M.Sc. degree in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India, in 2000, and a Ph.D. degree in remote sensing image processing and analysis from Télécom ParisTech, Paris, France, and the Ariana Research Group, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), France, in 2007. He is currently a professor with the Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India. Before joining IIT Bombay, he was a Canadian Government Research Fellow with the Canadian Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) in Canada. His current research interests include SAR polarimetry, statistical analysis of polarimetric SAR images, radar remote sensing applications in agriculture, cryosphere, urban and planetary studies. Dr. Bhattacharya was a recipient of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada visiting