Schwank M., Wigneron J.P., Lopez-Baeza E., Volksch I., Matzler C., Kerr Yann. (2012). L-band radiative properties of vine vegetation at the MELBEX III SMOS Cal/Val Site. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 50 (5), p. 1587-1601. ISSN 0196-2892.
Titre du document
L-band radiative properties of vine vegetation at the MELBEX III SMOS Cal/Val Site
Schwank M., Wigneron J.P., Lopez-Baeza E., Volksch I., Matzler C., Kerr Yann
Source
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2012,
50 (5), p. 1587-1601 ISSN 0196-2892
Radiative properties at 1.4 GHz of vine vegetation are investigated by measuring brightness temperatures with the ETH L-band Radiometer II (ELBARA II) operated on a tower at the Mediterranean Ecosystem L-band Characterisation Experiment III (MELBEX III) field site in Spain. To this aim, experiments with and without a reflecting foil placed under the vines were performed for the vegetation winter and summer states, respectively, to provide prevailingly information on vegetation transmissivities. The resulting parameters, which can be considered as "ground truth" for the MELBEX III vineyard, were retrieved from brightness temperature at horizontal and vertical polarization measured at observation angles between 30 degrees and 60 degrees. These MELBEX III "ground-truth" values are representative for the Mediterranean Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Valencia Anchor Station (VAS) and therefore valuable for the corresponding calibration and validation activities over the VAS site. Likewise, quantifying the uncertainties of the measured brightness temperatures was also important, particularly as several equivalent ELBARA II instruments are currently operative in ongoing SMOS-related field campaigns.
