The estimation of soil moisture using DUBOIS model (1995) for monitoring phase growth of paddy

Monitoring the growth of rice in Indonesia is very important because rice is a staple food of the Indonesian people. The biggest rice producer in West Java is Indramayu. Soil moisture is one of factor in monitoring the growth of paddy. The Monitoring is carried out using SAR image, namely Radarsat-2 Quad-Polarimetric imagery. In estimating the value of soil moisture, required a dielectric constant which is obtained from the value of the Digital Number (DN) that is converted into the backscattering value (σo). The approach that used in calculating the dielectric constant is a semi-empirical approach using the Dubois model (1995). The purpose of this study is to estimate the value of soil moisture in order that it can be used in monitoring the growth phase of paddy. The rice growth phase is distinguished in the form of a graph subsequently matched with the results of field photo validation. The results of this research show a positive linear correlation between the Dubois model (1995) and field soil moisture with a level of accuracy of ± 7.202% volumetric.