Effects of spatial sampling interval on roughness parameters and microwave backscatter over agricultural soil surfaces

The spatial sampling interval, as related to the ability to digitize a soil profile with a certain number of features per unit length, depends on the profiling technique itself. From a variety of profiling techniques, roughness parameters are estimated at different sampling intervals. Since soil pro...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Barber, Matías Ernesto, Grings, Francisco Matías, Álvarez-Mozos, Jesús, Piscitelli, Marcela, Perna, Pablo Alejandro, Karszenbaum, Haydee
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universidad San Jorge (USJ)
Repositorio:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
OAI Identifier:oai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/26146
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2454/26146
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Surface soil roughness
Laser profiler
Height standard deviation
Correlation length
Radar applications
Scattering models
Descripción
Sumario:The spatial sampling interval, as related to the ability to digitize a soil profile with a certain number of features per unit length, depends on the profiling technique itself. From a variety of profiling techniques, roughness parameters are estimated at different sampling intervals. Since soil profiles have continuous spectral components, it is clear that roughness parameters are influenced by the sampling interval of the measurement device employed. In this work, we contributed to answer which sampling interval the profiles needed to be measured at to accurately account for the microwave response of agricultural surfaces. For this purpose, a 2-D laser profiler was built and used to measure surface soil roughness at field scale over agricultural sites in Argentina. Sampling intervals ranged from large (50 mm) to small ones (1 mm), with several intermediate values. Large- and intermediate-sampling-interval profiles were synthetically derived from nominal, 1 mm ones. With these data, the effect of sampling-interval-dependent roughness parameters on backscatter response was assessed using the theoretical backscatter model IEM2M. Simulations demonstrated that variations of roughness parameters depended on the working wavelength and was less important at L-band than at C- or X-band. In any case, an underestimation of the backscattering coefficient of about 1-4 dB was observed at larger sampling intervals. As a general rule a sampling interval of 15 mm can be recommended for L-band and 5 mm for C-band.