The Dielectric Properties of Wet Materials

In microwave remote sensing, knowledge of the dielectric properties of the materials observed (vegetation, soils) is important for the interpretation of the recorded reflection or emission and for the design of models for this reflection or emission. Although there exists no simple law which describes the properties of a heterogeneous system when the properties of its components are known, boundaries can be indicated for the permittivity of such a system. Heterogeneous systems containing water, such as wet soils and plant material, have very complex dielectric properties due to the role of the conductivity. However, at the higher microwave frequencies, in particular above the S-band, these conductivity effects play only a minor role and the free water is most important. When knowing the permittivity of wet materials the penetration depth can be determined. In all practical cases this depth is smaller than the wavelength used for the observations.