A Parametric Study on Passive and Active Microwave Observations over a Soybean Crop

This work investigates the potential use of passive and active microwave observations to monitor soil moisture and vegetation biomass over a soybean cover. The work is based on a sensitivity analysis from a large set of data generated by radiative-transfer models. Some appropriate configurations are identified. In particular, the combined use of passive data at 1.4 GHz, with multiangle active measurements at 5 GH(sub z), is found to be promising.