Abstract: Building characteristic information,especially building height extraction,is of great significance in urban remote sensing application.A method for building height determination via radar backscattering characteristics is studied,using only one spaceborne high-resolution SAR image.The building height can be evaluated by the strength of the double-bounce backscattering of a building,looking angle,orbit,and material parameters based on the geometrical optics(GO) backscattering model.The approach provides good results for typical buildings,indicating the validity of the proposed method.With the continuous development of high resolution SAR system,there are various possible applications in urban building characteristic extraction.