Development of a Scattering Model for Soybean Fields and Verification with Scatterometer and SAR Data at X-Band

Abstract

This paper presents a scattering model and measurements of backscattering coefficients for soybean fields. The polarimetric radar backscatters of a soybean field were measured using the ground-based X-band polarimetric scatterometer in an angular range from 20° to 60°. The backscattering coefficients were also obtained using the COSMO- SkyMed (Spotlight mode, HH-polarization) from July to October 2010. The backscattering coefficients of the soybean field were computed using the 1st-order radiative transfer model (RTM) with field-measured input parameters. The soybean layer is composed of the stems, branches, leaves, and soybean pods. The stems, branches, and pods are modeled with lossy dielectric cylinders, the leaves are modeled with lossy dielectric disks. The estimated backscattering coefficients agree quite well with the field-measured radar backscattering coefficients.