Comparison of Interferometric Soil Moisture Model and F-SAR Data Over Agricultural Areas at C- and L-Bands

Abstract

This work compares the observed interferometric coherence from high-resolution F-SAR data with the predictions of a physical interferometric repeat-pass soil moisture model over agricultural areas. Differences between wheat fields and bare surfaces are analyzed at C- and L-bands. At C-band, the wheat crops strongly influence the temporal coherence and obscure the signal from the changes in soil moisture. At the L-band, the effect of vegetation is less pronounced, and a high coherence is observed. For bare surfaces, C-band coherence is high in areas with no changes and lower in drying areas, better matching the model predictions. At the L-band, the observed coherence is higher than model predictions.