“Flashing Fields” and the impact of soil surface roughness

Abstract

In this paper the results of an additional campaign in the context of Flashing Fields are presented showing the impact of soil surface roughness on the directional backscattering. For the characterization of soil surface roughness a photogrametric measurement device was used and roughness was measured simultaneous to SAR observation made by ERS-2 and TerraSAR-X. As this study mainly confirmed and consolidated the findings of the previous Flashing Fields studies, major progress was made in in the understanding of the impact of soil surface roughness on the flashing phenomenon. It could be concluded, that besides the row orientation, certain roughness conditions could significantly alter the flashing effect.