A COMPOSITE DISCRETE-CONTINUOUS APPROACH TO MODEL THE MICROWAVE EMISSION OF VEGETATION

A new approach to model the microwave emission of vegetation is descri bed in this paper, The modeling is based on the combination of both th e discrete approach to simulate single scattering albedo omega and the continuous approach to simulate vegetation scattering effects, This c omposite model COMPOS is designed first to account for absorption effe cts in a more accurate way than the continuous approach and secondly t o remain relevant for inversion procedures, Sensitivity studies showed that the use of a priori information about the vegetation structure i s relevant to simulate omega. So, a reduced number of input parameters can be used in the composite model, Simulations of single scattering albedo omega, of canopy opacity and of wheat emissivity have been comp ared with several sets of radiometric data, The comparisons show that the composite approach simulations are consistent with the microwave o bservations,