[Study of the microwave emissivity characteristics of vegetation over the Northern Hemisphere].

ABSTRACT

The microwave emissivity is a function of structure, water content, and surface roughness, and all these factors have obvious seasonal variations. In the present study, the half-month averaged emissivities in summer and winter of 2003 over the vegetation of Northern Hemisphere were estimated using Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) combined with IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Project labels) land classification data. Then the emissivities of vegetation land covers at different frequencies, the polarization and their seasonal variations were analyzed respectively. The results show that the emissivities of vegetation increase with the increase in frequencies, and decline with the frequency increasing over snow region. In summer, the vegetation emissivity at V-polarization of 89 GHz is larger than 0.944, and all emissivities are relatively stable and the RMSE of time series emissivity variation is less than 0.007 2. In winter, emissivities decrease over snow covered area, especially for higher frequencies. Furthermore, with the increase in vegetation density, the emissivities increase and emissivity polarization difference decreases.