On the Color Visualization of Three-component Model-based Decomposition for Polarimetric SAR Data

Applicable visualization strategies are required to achieve quick inspection and interpretation of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) images. However, the visual effect of PolSAR images may be susceptible to the possibly existent large dynamic range of PolSAR data. In this paper, a simplified method for adjusting the large dynamic range of PolSAR data is developed, which is similar to the “MinMaxContrastMedian” technique adopted by Pottier et al. in their visualization strategy within the PolSARpro software. Based on this simplified method and the red-green-blue color model, a novel color visualization strategy for three-component model-based polarimetric decomposition is further proposed. The feasibility and validity of the proposed strategy is verified by the measured PolSAR data of Oberpfaffenhofen obtained by DLR L-band E-SAR.