L band brightness temperature observations over a corn canopy during the entire growth cycle.

During a field campaign covering the 2002 corn growing season, a dual polarized tower mounted L-band (1.4 GHz) radiometer (LRAD) provided brightness temperature (T(B)) measurements at preset intervals, incidence and azimuth angles. These radiometer measurements were supported by an extensive characterization of land surface variables including soil moisture, soil temperature, vegetation biomass, and surface roughness. In the period May 22 to August 30, ten days of radiometer and ground measurements are available for a corn canopy with a vegetation water content (W) range of 0.0 to 4.3 kg m(-2). Using this data set, the effects of corn vegetation on surface emissions are investigated by means of a semi-empirical radiative transfer model. Additionally, the impact of roughness on the surface emission is quantified using T(B) measurements over bare soil conditions. Subsequently, the estimated roughness parameters, ground measurements and horizontally (H)-polarized T(B) are employed to invert the H-polarized transmissivity (γ(h)) for the monitored corn growing season.