The use of optical remote sensing data in large tropical forest regions has an important limitation due to cloud cover. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data can be a viable alternative in areas where cloud cover is permanent, because the data acquisition is independent on atmospheric conditions. In this context, the main objective of this work was to evaluate the potential of L band SAR data acquired by R99B Brazilian Air Force (FAB) airborne system to discriminate deforestation increments in the Amazon rainforest. In order to achieve this purpose, we performed Maximum Likelihood classifications with multipolarized SAR data of a test site located in the state of Acre. The classifications performed with the combination of three channels (HH+HV+VV) and with the polarization pair HH+HV obtained good agreement with PRODES reference map (k=0,68, where k is de Kappa index). This result indicates that multipolarized L band SAR data have good potential to discriminate deforestation increments in the Amazon rainforest.
SAR R99B; L band; multipolarization; deforestation
