An Improved Radiative Transfer Model for Polarimetric Backscattering from Agricultural Fields at C- and X-Bands

Abstract

The first-order vector radiative transfer model (FVRTM) is modified mainly by examining the effects of leaf curvature of vegetation canopies, the higher-order multiple scattering among vegetation scattering particles, and the underlying-surface roughness for forward reflection on radar backscattering from farming fields at C- and X-bands. At first, we collected the backscattering coefficients measured by scatterometers and space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR), field-measured ground-truth data sets, and theoretical scattering models for radar backscattering from vegetation fields at microwaves. Then, these effects on the RTM were examined using the database at the C- and X-bands. Finally, an improved RTM was obtained by adjusting its parameters, mainly related with the leaf curvature, the higher-order multiple scattering, and the underlying-surface small-roughness characteristics, and its accuracy was verified by comparisons between the improved RTM and measurement data sets.

Keywords

• backscattering coefficient
• leaf curvature
• multiple scattering
• radiative transfer model
• surface roughness