New synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems suggest new potentials for the environmental studies and mapping due to high spatial resolution, various beam modes and the full polarization mode. Current level of imaging radar development together with amount and quality of acquired data require users to better understand the processes of radar image generation, which depends on both technical parameters of synthetic aperture radar imaging system and territory features. Some experiments with different radar data were conducted to estimate the methods of radar data processing and geographical interpretation of results for environmental research. The radar data acquired by Radarsat-1, -2 and ALOS PALSAR were used for research and mapping of agricultural lands in the Volga river delta and Stavropol region, forest cuts in Tver region. Results of the experiments are represented as visual aid that explains some of the radar imagery basics, and contains examples of images processing and interpretation.