SIR-C / X-SAR MISSION ACTIVITIES IN THE MANAUS SUPERSITE DURING 
APRIL, 1994 OVERFLIGHT: FIELD REPORT AND PRELIMINARY RESULTS. 
Dalton M. Valeriano 
Laura Hess, Yong Wang 
Solange Filoso, John Melack 
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - INPE 
Departamento de Meteorologia e Sensoriamento Remoto - D5M 
Caixa Postal 515 
12201-970 - Sáo José dos Campos - SP, Brazil 
ISPRS Commission VII/Working Group 2 
ABSTRACT 
During the first mission of the SIR-C/X-SAR experiment in April 1994, the following activities were 
conducted in the Manaus supersite: deployment of corner reflectors (CR); detection of flooded area using 
SIR-C data and measurement of forest parameters. CRs were installed in so that every pass for the 
Manaus supersite views at least one CR. For the detection of flooded areas, the first step was to analyze a 
JERS-1 image from a date with equivalent river stage to April. Samples with different signature within 
the floodplain were selected. Presence of flood and description of vegetation were registered during a 
small aircraft overflight. This information was used for the selection of training sites for the classification 
of the SIR-C data that was downloaded during the mission. The accuracy of the image classification was 
verified during a helicopter overflight made ten days after the data acquisition. During both flights the 
vegetation cover was registered by oblique video and photography. Eight forest stands were characterized 
by stem density, dbh distribution and canopy closure for the detection of biomass structure parameters. 
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