Analysis of the relationship between backscattered P-band radar signals and soil roughness

In this paper, the potential use of P-band radar signals for the estimation of soil roughness parameters is analyzed. The numerical moment method backscattering model is used to study the sensitivity to soil roughness parameters of backscattered P-band signals. Two roughness scales related to terrai...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote sensing of environment 2016-12, Vol.186, p.13-21
Main Authors: Zribi, M., Sahnoun, M., Baghdadi, N., Le Toan, T., Ben Hamida, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Backscattering
Bare soil
Computer simulation
Environmental Sciences
Low frequencies
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Moment method
P-band
Parameter estimation
Parameter sensitivity
Parameters
Radar
Roughness
Roughness parameters
SAR
Soil analysis
Soil surfaces
Soils
Terrain
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this paper, the potential use of P-band radar signals for the estimation of soil roughness parameters is analyzed. The numerical moment method backscattering model is used to study the sensitivity to soil roughness parameters of backscattered P-band signals. Two roughness scales related to terrain microtopography and low frequency roughness structures are considered. In the case of microtopography, the rms height is shown to be the dominant influence in the relationship between radar signals and roughness. For low frequency structures, the parameter Zs is strongly correlated with the backscattered signals. An analysis of the behavior of P-band radar signals as a function of multi-scale soil roughness (microtopography and large-scale roughness structures) reveals the complexity of using P-band data for the study of bare surface soil parameters. The Moment method model is then compared with the real data covering a large range of microtopographic roughness values, derived from experimental airborne P-band SAR campaigns made over agricultural fields, at two sites in France. The significant discrepancies observed between measurements and simulations confirm the limitations of an analysis based on microtopographic characterizations only. •Analysis of P-band backscattering signals function of soil roughness.•Moment method simulations are used for roughness effect analysis.•Two parameters (Hrms, Zs) are considered for multi-scale roughness description.•Behavior of P-band real radar data over agricultural soils is discussed.
ISSN:0034-4257
1879-0704
DOI:10.1016/j.rse.2016.08.006