GRAY TONE FILTERING ON ERS-SAR IMAGES APPLIED TO CHANGE DETECTION AND MAPPING

Abstract

In SAR images, the pixel values are tightly related to physical parameters of the soil such as topography, roughness and humidity, regardless to atmospheric conditions. Therefore, SAR images may be used to detect, and quantify changes in land cover, by comparison of time series SAR data. Classical change detection techniques from SAR images are based on additive synthesis of RGB colors and arithmetic operations between images. The noisy aspect of ERS image due to the original speckle is an obstacle for available mapping and quantification of the changes. Here, statistical and morphological filters are used to reduce the speckle noise. Combined techniques of change detection and noise filtering are applied here to assess and map from ERS-SAR images the impact of regular or catastrophic flood and deforestation in the East Coast of Madagascar.