Sensitivity of microwave measurements to vegetation biomass and soil moisture content: a case study

Author

Ferrazzoli, Paolo ; Paloscia, S. ; Pampaloni, P. ; Schiavon, G. ; Solimini, D. ; Coppo, P.

Author_Institution

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettronica, Tor Vergata Univ., Rome, Italy

Volume

30

Issue

4

fYear

1992

fDate

7/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

750

Lastpage

756

Abstract

A comparative evaluation of the potential of active and passive microwave sensors in estimating vegetation biomass and soil moisture content is carried out. For this purpose, experimental data collected on an agricultural area by airborne scatterometers and radiometers during the AGRISCATT and AGRIRAD 1988 campaigns have been used. The results show that both microwave backscattering and emission are sensitive to vegetation biomass over a wide frequency range. Multifrequency observations seem to offer good probabilities for separating wide leaf from small leaf herbaceous crops, and for detecting different growth stages. Low frequency data (L band) at a steep incidence angle (10 degrees ) confirm that both the backscattering coefficient and the normalized temperature are correlated and sensitive to soil moisture content.<>

Keywords

agriculture; geophysical techniques; hydrological techniques; microwave imaging; remote sensing; remote sensing by radar; AGRIRAD; AGRISCATT; active; agricultural; airborne scatterometers; emission; geophysical measurement technique; growth stages; hydrology; land surface; microwave backscattering; passive microwave sensors; radar; radiometry; remote sensing; small leaf herbaceous crops; soil moisture content; vegetation biomass; wide leaf; Backscatter; Biomass; Frequency; Microwave measurements; Microwave sensors; Radar measurements; Radiometers; Soil measurements; Soil moisture; Vegetation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0196-2892

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/36.158869

Filename

158869