Worldwide distribution of soil dielectric and thermal properties

Ground penetrating radar and thermal sensors hold much promise for the detection of non-metallic land mines. In previous work we have shown that the performance of ground penetrating radar strongly depends on field soil conditions such as texture, water content, and soil-water salinity since these soil parameters determine the dielectric soil properties. From soil physics and field measurements we know that the performance of thermal sensors also strongly depends on soil texture and water content. There is it critical that field soil conditions are taken into account when radar and thermal sensors are employed. The objectives of this contribution are (i) to make an inventory of readily available soil data bases world wide and (ii) to investigate how the information contained in these data bases can be used for derivation of soil dielectric and thermal properties relevant for operation of land mine sensors.