Look direction dependence of radar backscattering cross section for agricultural fields

Analysis of multifrequency-multipolarization scatterometer data acquired by NASA Johnson Space Center during the 1978 Colby Agricultural Soil Moisture Experiment provides evidence that the effects of row orientation remain quite severe for relatively bare fields over a wide range of radar frequencies. In addition, Seasat satellite radar imagery from areas in Louisiana shows dominant row orientation effects even beneath substantial amounts of vegetation cover. The multiparameter nature of the Colby data set, and the continuous angular change in field patterns observed in the Louisiana test area provide much finer definition of microwave sensitivity to row orientation than has been possible in the past.