Soil Moisture Estimation in time with D-InSAR

This paper explores the potential to estimate soil moisture in the presence of vegetation using differential SAR interferometry and polarimetry. It is well known that a change in soil moisture changes the penetration depth of the electromagnetic wave, hence inducing an "artificial" change in the observed phase center. The presence of vegetation, or the vegetation vitality itself, can also affect the location of the observed phase center. Finally, a change in the polarimetric signature of the scatterer can also induce a phase center change. The purpose of this paper is to make a first study concerning the possibility to separate those contributions using differential SAR interferometry together with SAR polarimetry. Exemplary results are shown with data acquired by the airborne E-SAR system of DLR in the frame of the AGRISAR campaign.