Temperature- and Texture-Dependent Dielectric Model for Moist Soils at 1.4 GHz

In this letter, a monofrequent dielectric model for moist soils taking into account dependences on the temperature and texture is proposed, in the case of an electromagnetic frequency equal to 1.4 GHz. The proposed model is deduced from a more general model proposed by Mironov and Fomin (2009) that provides estimations of the complex relative permittivity (CRP) of moist soils as a function of frequency, temperature, moisture, and texture of soils. The latter employs the physical laws of Debye and Clausius-Mossotti and the law of ion conductance to calculate the CRP of water solutions in the soil. The parameters of the respective physical laws were determined by using the CRPs of moist soils measured by Curtis (1995) for a wide ensemble of soil textures (clay content from 0% to 76%), moistures (from drying at 105 °C to nearly saturation), temperatures (10 °C -40 °C), and frequencies (0.3-26.5 GHz). This model has standard deviations of calculated CRPs from the measured values equal to 1.9 and 1.3 for the real and imaginary parts of CRP, respectively. In the model proposed in this letter, the respective standard deviations were decreased to the values of 0.87 and 0.26. In addition, the equations to calculate the complex dielectric permittivity as a function of moisture, temperature, and texture were represented in a simple form of the refractive mixing dielectric model, which is commonly used in the algorithms of radiometric and radar remote sensing to retrieve moisture in the soil.