Influence of radar frequency on the relationship between bare surface soil moisture vertical profile and radar backscatter

Mehrez Zribi (1) , Azza Gorrab (1, 2) , Nicolas Baghdadi (3) , Zohra Lili-Chabaane (2) , Bernard Mougenot (1)

1 CESBIO - Centre d'études spatiales de la biosphère
2 INAT-LRSTE - INAT Laboratoire Recherche-Développement Sciences et Technologie de l'Eau
3 UMR G-EAU - Gestion de l'Eau, Acteurs, Usages

The aim of this letter is to discuss the influence of radar frequency on the relationship between surface soil moisture and the nature of radar backscatter over bare soils. In an attempt to address this issue, the advanced integral equation model was used to simulate backscatter from soil surfaces with various moisture vertical profiles, for three frequency bands, namely, L, C, and X. In these computations, we investigated the influence of the vertical heterogeneity of soil moisture on the characteristics of the backscattered signals. The influence of radar frequency is clearly demonstrated. A database produced from Envisat ASAR and TerraSAR-X data, which was acquired over bare soils with in situ measurements of moisture content and ground surface roughness, was used to validate the utility of taking the soil moisture heterogeneity into account in the backscatter model.

Mots clés: Advanced integral equation model (AIEM); bare soil; soil moisture profile; synthetic aperture radar

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Milieux et Changements globaux; Interfaces continentales, environnement

Mehrez Zribi, Azza Gorrab, Nicolas Baghdadi, Zohra Lili-Chabaane, Bernard Mougenot. Influence of radar frequency on the relationship between bare surface soil moisture vertical profile and radar backscatter. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 2013, PP99 (4), pp.1-5. ⟨10.1109/LGRS.2013.2279893⟩. ⟨hal-00907867⟩