• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2013

Microwave remote sensing can help monitor the land surface water cycle and crop growth. This type of remote sensing has great potential over conventional remote sensing using the visible and infrared regions due to its all-weather day-and-night imaging capabilities. In this paper, a ground-based multi-frequency (L-, C-, and X-band) polarimetric scatterometer system capable of making observations every 10 min was developed. This system was used to monitor the wheat over an entire growth cycle. The polarimetric scatterometer components were installed inside an air-conditioned shelter to maintain constant temperature and humidity during the data acquisition period. Backscattering coefficients for the crop growing season were compared with biophysical measurements. Backscattering coefficients for all frequencies and polarizations increased until dat of year 137 and then decreased along with fresh weight, dry weight, plant height, and vegetation water content (VWC). The range of backscatter for X-band was lower than for L- and C-band. We examined the relationship between the backscattering coefficients of each band (frequency/polarization) and the various wheat growth parameters. The correlation between the different vegetation parameters and backscatter decreased with increasing frequency. L-band HH-polarization (L-HH) is best suited for the monitoring of fresh weight (r=0.98), dry weight (r=0.96), VWC (r=0.98), and plant height (r=0.96). The correlation coefficients were highest for L-band observations and lowest for X-band. Also, HH-polarization had the highest correlations among the polarization channels (HH, VV and HV). Based on the correlation analysis between backscattering coefficients in each band and wheat growth parameters, we developed prediction equations using the L-HH based on the observed relationships between L-HH and fresh weight, dry weight, VWC and plant height. The results of these analyses will be useful in determining the optimum microwave frequency and polarizations necessary for estimating vegetation parameters in the wheat.