Coherent full microwave scattering formulation for random layered media

Abstract

We present a fully coherent, analytic model of the backscattering intensity in all 𝐻𝐻, 𝐻𝑉, 𝑉𝐻 , and 𝑉𝑉 channels, for the volume scattering of radiation from a layer of finite thickness, such as a vegetation layer over bare soil. We aim for a simple, not numerically intensive, model that could be used either as a forward model in a Bayesian estimation scheme, or else as a preliminary means to identify key features of a concrete problem, for its further analysis by more sophisticated theoretical and numerical approaches.