{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T15:11:38Z","timestamp":1760109098593,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,16]],"date-time":"2024-04-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1713225600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002923","name":"Argentinean National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PICT 2020 N\u00ba 1830","SRM 2023 N\u00b0001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PICT 2020 N\u00ba 1830","SRM 2023 N\u00b0001"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002923","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"SRGIS Geolog\u00eda &amp; Geom\u00e1tica Ltda.","award":["PICT 2020 N\u00ba 1830","SRM 2023 N\u00b0001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PICT 2020 N\u00ba 1830","SRM 2023 N\u00b0001"]}]},{"name":"Universidad Mayor","award":["PICT 2020 N\u00ba 1830","SRM 2023 N\u00b0001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PICT 2020 N\u00ba 1830","SRM 2023 N\u00b0001"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Lithium mining has become a controversial issue in the transition to green technologies due to the intervention in natural basins that impact the native flora and fauna in these environments. Large resources of this element are concentrated in Andean salt flats in South America, where extraction is much easier than in other geological configurations. The Pozuelos highland salt flat, located in northern Argentina (Salta\u2019s Province), was chosen for this study due to the presence of different evaporitic crusts and its proven economic potential in lithium-rich brines. A comprehensive analysis of a 5.5-year-long time series of its microwave backscatter with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images yielded significant insights into the dynamics of their crusts. During a field campaign conducted near the acquisition of three SAR images (Sentinel-1, ALOS-2\/PALSAR-2, and SAOCOM-1), field measurements were collected for computational modeling of the SAR response. The temporal backscattering coefficients for the crusts in the salt flat are directly linked to rainfall events, where changes in surface roughness, soil moisture, and water table depth represent the most critical variables. Field parameters were employed to model the backscattering response of the salt flat using the Small Slope Approximation (SSA) model. Salt concentration of the subsurface brine and the water table depth over the slightly to moderately roughed crusts were quantitatively derived from Bayesian inference of the ALOS-2\/PALSAR-2 and SAOCOM-1 SAR backscattering coefficient data. The results demonstrated the potential for subsurface estimation with L-band dual-polarization images, constrained to crusts compatible with the feasibility range of the layered model.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs16081411","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,17]],"date-time":"2024-04-17T07:54:36Z","timestamp":1713340476000},"page":"1411","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Spaceborne Radars for Mapping Surface and Subsurface Salt Pan Configuration: A Case Study of the Pozuelos Salt Flat in Northern Argentina"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Jos\u00e9 Manuel","family":"Lattus","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Mag\u00edster en Teledetecci\u00f3n, Escuela de Ingenier\u00eda Forestal, Facultad de Ciencias, Ingenier\u00eda y Tecnolog\u00eda, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 8580745, Chile"},{"name":"Escuela de Geolog\u00eda, Facultad de Ingenier\u00eda, Universidad Santo Tom\u00e1s, Santiago 8370003, Chile"},{"name":"SRGIS Geolog\u00eda & Geom\u00e1tica Ltda., Santiago 7941279, Chile"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6947-4293","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mat\u00edas Ernesto","family":"Barber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mag\u00edster en Teledetecci\u00f3n, Escuela de Ingenier\u00eda Forestal, Facultad de Ciencias, Ingenier\u00eda y Tecnolog\u00eda, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 8580745, Chile"},{"name":"Quantitative Remote Sensing Group, Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics (IAFE, CONICET-UBA), Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina"}]},{"given":"Dra\u017een","family":"Skokovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mag\u00edster en Teledetecci\u00f3n, Escuela de Ingenier\u00eda Forestal, Facultad de Ciencias, Ingenier\u00eda y Tecnolog\u00eda, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 8580745, Chile"},{"name":"Global Change Unit, Image Processing Laboratory, Parc Cient\u00edfic, Universitat de Valencia, 46980 Paterna, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3670-6190","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Waldo","family":"P\u00e9rez-Mart\u00ednez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mag\u00edster en Teledetecci\u00f3n, Escuela de Ingenier\u00eda Forestal, Facultad de Ciencias, Ingenier\u00eda y Tecnolog\u00eda, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 8580745, Chile"},{"name":"H\u00e9mera Centro de Observaci\u00f3n de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias, Ingenier\u00eda y Tecnolog\u00eda, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 8580745, Chile"}]},{"given":"Ver\u00f3nica Roc\u00edo","family":"Mart\u00ednez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Andean Geological Studies Center (CEGA), National University of Salta (UNSa, INSUGEO-CONICET), Salta 4400, Argentina"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9534-4249","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laura","family":"Flores","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), 15374 M\u00fcncheberg, Germany"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"293","DOI":"10.1080\/02646811.2022.2058770","article-title":"Environmental Information Access and Management in the Lithium Triangle: Is It Transparent Information?","volume":"40","author":"Clavijo","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. 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