Dielectric Model for Thawed Organic Soils at Frequency of 435 MHz

To date, models describing the complex dielectric constant (CDC) of tundra soils with different contents of organic matter (more than 30%) in the P-band were poorly reported and not developed. In this letter, a refractive dielectric model for moist organic soils at a frequency of 435 MHz was developed. The model was developed on the basis of dielectric measurements of five samples of organic soils with different organic content from 35% to 80% and the soil moisture from air-dry to field capacity at a temperature of 20 °C. The developed model is a function of only two parameters, namely, the organic content by weight and volumetric soil moisture. The new model and future BIOMASS mission will be creating the bases for developing new soil moisture profile retrieving algorithms in the root zone.