Premium
Radar reflections and water content estimation of aeolian sand dune
Author(s) -
Bano Maksim,
Girard JeanFrançois
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2000gl011986
Subject(s) - aeolian processes , ground penetrating radar , wavelet , radar , geology , reflection (computer programming) , reflection coefficient , dispersion (optics) , remote sensing , permittivity , soil science , water content , mineralogy , optics , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , materials science , physics , computer science , telecommunications , optoelectronics , artificial intelligence , dielectric , programming language
Many Ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) profiles acquired on the dry aeolian environment have shown a strong reflectivity inside the present‐day dunes. Changes in water content are believed to be the origin of this reflectivity. In this paper we try to model the radar reflections coming from the bottom of a dry aeolian dune by using the 1D wavelet modeling method. The principle of this method is to calculate the effects of the propagation (absorption, dispersion and geometrical spreading) and reflection on a reference wavelet for different values of various parameters, and the best fit between the observed and calculated data leads to the optimum set of parameters. By combining the wavelet modeling method with a semi‐empirical mixing formula for the bulk permittivity of moist sandy soils we estimate the water content and explain the importance of this latter parameter on reflection coefficient and on wavelet modeling.