Development of a method of the soil moisture mapping in the permafrost regions using the surface scattering model and SAR data

The objective of this study is to develop a method of mapping soil moisture on Tibetan Plateau by using the spatial and temporal distributions of the microwave backscattering coefficients of the ground surface. The three images of L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mounted on JERS-1 and the integral equation method (IEM) which is one of the surface scattering model were employed in this study. This model which includes the effect of surface roughness was applied to the overlaid image for interpreting the backscattering coefficient to the soil moisture. The distribution of calculated soil moisture on Tibetan Plateau is good agreement with the result of the visual inspection in the field.