C-Band Radiometric Response to Rainfall Events in the Subtropical Chaco Forest

Author

Grings, F. ; Douna, V. ; Barraza, V. ; Salvia, M. ; Karszenbaum, H. ; Gasparri, N.I. ; Ferrazzoli, P. ; Rahmoune, R.

Author_Institution

Inst. de Astron. y Fis. del Espacio (IAFE), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Volume

9

Issue

2

fYear

2012

fDate

3/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

209

Lastpage

213

Abstract

In this letter, multitemporal signatures collected by Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) over the dry forest of Chaco, located in North Argentina, are analyzed. The forest has a biomass of about 100 t/ha and a woody volume of about 120 m³/ha. A clear increase of polarization index at C-band is observed after intense rain events in two different locations. Simulations of a discrete model attribute this effect to variations of soil moisture and predict an effect comparable with the measured one. Results indicate that there is a potential to monitor soil moisture variations below dry forests with moderate biomass, also in view of the forthcoming availability of L-band data.

Keywords

hydrological techniques; microwave measurement; moisture measurement; radiometry; rain; soil; vegetation mapping; AMSR-E; Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer; C-band polarization index; C-band radiometric response; L-band data; North Argentina; discrete model attribute; dry forest; forest biomass; multitemporal signature; rain event; rainfall event; soil moisture variation monitoring; subtropical Chaco forest; Biological system modeling; Biomass; Microwave radiometry; Rain; Remote sensing; Soil moisture; Forests; microwave radiometry; modeling; soil moisture;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1545-598X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LGRS.2011.2162484

Filename

6020740