SOME CRITICAL REMARKS ON THE USE OF C-BAND RADAR DATA FOR SOIL-MOISTURE DETECTION

Multifrequency microwave backscatter from soils under different agricultural crops and different moisture conditions was measured during the LOTREX campaign (Land Surface Transverse Experiment, 26 June-21 July, 1989) in northern West Germany (LOTREX is part of the International Satellite Land-Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP)). The data were gathered with an airborne coherent Doppler radar scatterometer at an off-nadir angle of 23-degrees as it was multiplexed through its L-, C-, X- and K(u)-bands. The frequency dependency of the backscatter power spectra was analysed and published elsewhere. In this Letter we discuss polarization effects in the C-band.