ESTAR and model brightness temperatures over forests: effects of soil moisture

Airborne measurements of brightness temperature at L-band over conifer stands located in Southern Virginia were made in July, August and November of 1999. Ground truth data related to forest stands and ground were also collected. The conifer stands were modeled by the distorted Born approximation (DBA) in conjunction with Peak's principle. The ground was modeled as a half space with surface roughness. The soil permittivity was related to its volumetric moisture through Dobson's model. It was observed that with sufficiently accurate measurement of ground temperature it is possible to see through the forest and retrieve information about the moisture of the underlying soil.