X-band backscattering analysis of soil moisture using ground-based scatterometer

This paper investigates change in backscattering response due to variation of soil moisture, in the X-band, with the purpose of providing a reliable method for soil moisture monitoring using satellite X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. The study is based on the ground-based scatterometer experiment conducted on the fields at the remote sensing test site of International Centre for Radio Science (ICRS), Jodhpur, India. During the month of July 2013, a number of experiments were carried out and a large amount of in situ data could be collected at a range of incident angles. Synchronously, the gravimetric soil moisture values were determined for the sandy soil of the test site. This paper describes these experiments and highlights the backscattering response characteristics at X-band observed in different incident angles due to variation of soil moisture.