Multi-temporal radar backscattering measurement of wheat fields and their relationship with biological variables

This paper measures backscattering coefficients of wheat fields using L, S, C, X-bands scatterometer system during a wheat growth period. The system has full-polarizations (vv, vh, hv, hh) and can view in various incidence angles (from 0° to 90°) and azimuth angles (from 0° to 360°). The wheat field locates at Qionglai County of China is measured during the 2011 growing season. From November 2010 to May 2011, twelve experimental acquisitions (ground and radar data) are carried out over the test field located in a flat area. At the same time, wheat biomass, canopy structure, LAI, soil parameters and related eco-physiological canopy variables are collected. The temporal variations of each band at selected incidence angles have been analysis during the wheat growing season. The correlation coefficients have been computed between the measured and model estimated values of σ⁰. The results show that the backscattering coefficient is sensitive to the biomass and LAI.