Remote detection of soil surface moisturePolarimetric data concerning soil surface moisture were obtained during a series of flights over the Imperial Valley, California, and Phoenix, Arizona, during March 1972. A polarimeter was installed in NASA's Convair-990 aircraft, Galileo, above a window in the floor of the aft cargo compartment in such a manner that it could view from 42 deg ahead of, to 42 deg to the rear of the nadir. It had a 3 deg field of view and a 10 nm bandwidth centered at 641 nm. The moisture content of the solid surface for fields viewed by the polarimeter was measured by determining the angle through which the light had been scattered by the soil and by observing the degree of polarization of this light produced during its interaction with the soil. The polarimeter measures this degree of polarization in terms of Stokes parameters. Ground-truth samples of soil were obtained at several depths along the flight path.
Document ID
19750033074
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Stockhoff, E. H.
Frost, R. T. (GE Space Sciences Laboratory Philadelphia, Pa., United States)
Date Acquired
August 8, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1974
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment