Large scale radar signatures of the land surface measured by the ERS-1 scatterometer

A C-band scatterometer is presently flying aboard the First European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) which is capable of measuring the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) of the Earth´s surface globally. The scatterometer data are primarily used for determining the surface wind over the ocean. Up to now, minor attention was given to the scatterometer data over land. In this investigation ERS-1 scatterometer data from one year were used to investigate large scale signatures of land surfaces and their seasonal variations. This paper illustrates that the ERS-1 C-band scatterometer is a very useful instrument for global land monitoring