An inversion model of soil roughness based on two radar frequency measurements

A semi-empirical model for the retrieval of soil roughness parameters of soil surface from radar backscattering coefficient is developed. The algorithm requires two frequency measurements. It gives good results for kσ<1.3. Backscattering simulations in C- (5.3 GHz) and l-bands (1.25 GHz) shows that is possible to deduce roughness parameters, particularly the rms height and the fractal dimension of soil. Their approach is based on the analytical backscattering model IEM “integral equation model”. Measurements achieved by two helicopter borne scatterometers ERASME and RENE over Pays de Caux (France) were used to validate their inversion method. The algorithm shows a good agreement between estimated roughness parameters and real ones