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Title: OBSERVATIONS OF LAND SURFACE PASSIVE MICROWAVE POLARIMETRY

Author
item Jackson, Thomas
item NARVEKAR, P - INDIAN INST. OF TECH.
item BINDLISH, R - SSAI
item LI, L - NAVAL RESEARCH LAB

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/20/2006
Publication Date: 8/28/2006
Citation: Jackson, T.J., Narvekar, P., Bindlish, R., Li, L. 2006. Observations of land surface passive microwave polarimetry [abstract]. Proceedings of Microrad 2006. 10.1109/MICRAD.2006.1677081:160-164.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The launch of WindSat and potential designs of future operational passive microwave sensors such as Conical Scanning Microwave Imager/Scanner (CMIS) have prompted an examination of what additional information about land surface features may be present in the 3rd and 4th Stokes parameters beyond the horizontally (h) and vertically (v) polarized brightness temperatures that are currently used in soil moisture and other retrievals. Retrieval algorithms might benefit from additional measurements. In the case of soil moisture, it has been necessary to account for several physical parameters in order to perform retrieval using h and v data. These factors are being analyzed using the WindSat data collected since 2003 and results from a field campaign conducted in 2005 (Soil Moisture Experiments 2005 – SMEX05). WindSat observations are being related to general land surface types in order to identify what geophysical characteristics yield unique information. Beyond this, data from SMEX03 and SMEX04 will be used along with insitu networks to evaluate new information for soil moisture retrieval. In order to specifically examine vegetation and soil moisture, SMEX05 was conducted during the summer of 2005 in Iowa over corn, soybeans, and forest canopies. Over the period there was a significant change in the canopy cover as a result of crop growth. Several rain events occurred resulting in a wide range of soil moisture conditions. Ground observations of soil moisture and vegetation parameters were obtained. Aircraft flights were performed on ten days during SMEX05 using Airborne Polarimetric Microwave Imaging Radiometer (APMIR), which obtained fully polarimetric X band data along with v&h C band observations. Data were collected in a fixed beam mode at high resolution. These data will be scaled to concurrent WindSat data sets. Efforts were made to collect all data to coincide with the morning overpass of the satellite. Data will be processed and archived as part of the SMEX data archives.