Improvement of Bare Soil Semi-Empirical Radar Backscattering Models (Oh and Dubois) with SAR Multi-Spectral Satellite Data (X-, C- and L-Bands)

Abstract

The objective of this study is to improve the performance of semi-empirical radar backscatter models, which are mainly used in microwave remote sensing (Oh 1992, Oh 2004 and Dubois). The study is based on satellite and ground data collected on bare soil surfaces during the Multispectral Crop Monitoring experimental campaign of the CESBIO laboratory in 2010 over an agricultural region in southwestern France. The dataset covers a wide range of soil (viewing top soil moisture, surface roughness and texture) and satellite (at different frequencies: X-, C- and L-bands, and different incidence angles: 24.3° to 53.3°) configurations. The proposed methodology consists in identifying and correcting the residues of the models, depending on the surface properties (roughness, moisture, texture) and/or sensor characteristics (frequency, incidence angle). Finally, one model has been retained for each frequency domain. Results show that the enhancements of the models significantly increase the simulation performances. The coefficient of correlation increases of 23% in mean and the simulation errors (RMSE) are reduced to below 2 dB (at the X and C-bands) and to 1 dB at the L-band, compared to the initial models. At the X- and C-bands, the best performances of the modified models are provided by Dubois, whereas Oh 2004 is more suitable for the L-band (r is equal to 0.69, 0.65 and 0.85). Moreover, the modified models of Oh 1992 and 2004 and Dubois, developed in this study, offer a wider domain of validity than the initial formalism and increase the capabilities of retrieving the backscattering signal in view of applications of such approaches to stronglycontrasted agricultural surface states.