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Title: PALS RADAR SIGNATURES OF SOIL SURFACES AND VEGETATED SITES IN OKLAHOMA DURING SGP99

Author
item YEUH, SIMON - NASA JPL
item NJOKU, ENI - NASA JPL
item WILSON, WILLIAM - NASA JPL
item LI, FUK - NASA JPL
item Jackson, Thomas
item LAKSHIMI, VENKAT - UNIVERSITY OF S. C.

Submitted to: Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/17/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Passive/Active L-S-band (PALS) microwave instrument has been developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to investigate the synergism of radiometer and radar measurements for soil moisture remote sensing. In July 1999, PALS was installed on the NCAR C-130 with six successful flights near Oklahoma City during the southern Great Plains 1999 (SGP99) Experiment. The data from these and subsequent ocean flights indicate a calibration stability of better than 0.1 dB for each flight. During the SGP99 Experiment, there was a significant rain event between the second and the third flights. The data from before and after the rain event indicated a change of 3 to 4 dB in all radar polarization channels, and a decreasing radar backscatter with the drying of surfaces. The data set enables us to illustrate the correlation of multi-polarization radar signatures with the soil moisture and vegetation biomass.