Frozen soil dielectric model using unfrozen water spectroscopic parameters

In this paper, the generalized refractive mixing dielectric model (GRMDM) introduced in was extended over freezing temperatures. Two types of unfrozen soil water, bound either by hydrophilic soil particle or ice crystal surfaces, have been identified. With this approach, the soil unfrozen water spectroscopic parameters in the microwave band were retrieved using the bentonite soil dielectric data measured at 0.6, 1.11, and 1.43 GHz, and 25°C down to -30°C. Based on these results, a dielectric model for frozen soil was proposed which allows for predicting complex dielectric constant as a function of frequency and temperature.