Global scale monitoring of soil and vegetation using SSM/I and ERS wind scatterometer

The potential of Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data in monitoring land surface features and global changes in synergy with the European Space Agency/European Remote Sensing satellite (ESA/ERS) wind scatterometer was investigated. The backscattering coefficient, the brightness temperature, and some related quantities, measured during a yearly cycle on a number of selected test sites in different climatic regions of the world, were related to surface features obtained from ground information. The major characteristics of land surfaces were obtained from their emissivity spectra and polarization state, while a further classification of surfaces was carried out by means of multifrequency, dual-polarized data. Vegetation biomass and snow cover were estimated from appropriate microwave indices and from spectra of brightness temperature.