Impact of rain interception by vegetation and mulch on the L-band emission of natural grass
type: Dataset
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: sdustumesciences-of-the-universe-physicsearth-sciencesmeteorology
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsarticle
keyword: l-band
keyword: physphysphys-ao-phphysics-physicsphysics-physicsatmospheric-and-oceanic-physics-physicsa
keyword: smos
keyword: radiometry
keyword: interception
keyword: journal-articles
keyword: soil-moisture
landing page: 0034-4257
description: This paper explores the effect of rain intercepted by vegetation and mulch on the L-band emission of natural grass. The study is based on radiometric, meteorological, and biophysical measurements obtained during the SMOSREX Experiment (Toulouse, France). Several approaches were followed to evaluate interception effects. Firstly, the analysis of microwave brightness temperature (TB) measurements at L-band indicated that interception increases vegetation emission at both polarisations. Secondly, the use of microwave indices to detect the presence/absence of interception was examined. In particular, a modified polarisation ratio at 50° was found to be well related to the interception status of the standing vegetation. Finally, the vegetation optical depth (?), which parameterises the extinction across the vegetation layer, was retrieved from the TB observations. It was found that ? increases with the increase in the water content stored within the vegetation and mulch after rainfall. The study highlights the strong impact of intercepted water in otherwise weakly attenuating covers such as grasses. Interception might therefore be an issue to consider in order to improve soil moisture retrieval algorithms from L-band observations.
issued: 2026-05-20T09:46:45.121908
language: en
modified: 2026-05-20T09:46:45.121915

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent

Impact of rain interception by vegetation and mulch on the L-band emission of natural grass
type: Distribution
access URL: https://hal.science/hal-00069257
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-20T09:46:45.159089
modified: 2026-05-20T09:46:45.087846