{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T21:52:53Z","timestamp":1771537973848,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,1,12]],"date-time":"2015-01-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1421020800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The aim of this paper is to analyze the potential of X-band SAR measurements (COSMO-SkyMed and TerraSAR-X) made over bare soils for the estimation of soil moisture and surface geometry parameters at a semi-arid site in Tunisia (North Africa). Radar signals acquired with different configurations (HH and VV polarizations, incidence angles of 26\u00b0 and 36\u00b0) are statistically compared with ground measurements (soil moisture and roughness parameters). The radar measurements are found to be highly sensitive to the various soil parameters of interest. A linear relationship is determined for the radar signals as a function of volumetric soil moisture, and a logarithmic correlation is observed between the radar signals and three surface roughness parameters: the root mean square height (Hrms), the parameter Zs = Hrms2\/l (where l is the correlation length) and the parameter Zg = Hrms \u00d7 (Hrms\/l)\u03b1 (where \u03b1 is the power of the surface height correlation function). The highest dynamic sensitivity is observed for Zg at high incidence angles. Finally, the performance of different physical and semi-empirical backscattering models (IEM, Baghdadi-calibrated IEM and Dubois models) is compared with SAR measurements. The results provide an indication of the limits of validity of the IEM and Dubois models, for various radar configurations and roughness conditions. Considerable improvements in the IEM model performance are observed using the Baghdadi-calibrated version of  this model.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs70100747","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,1,12]],"date-time":"2015-01-12T13:30:46Z","timestamp":1421069446000},"page":"747-766","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":43,"title":["Potential of X-Band TerraSAR-X and COSMO-SkyMed SAR Data for the Assessment of Physical Soil Parameters"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Azza","family":"Gorrab","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CESBIO (CNRS\/UPS\/IRD\/CNES), 18 av. Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France"},{"name":"University of Carthage\/INAT, 43 av. Charles Nicolle 1082, Tunis, Mahraj\u00e8ne Tunisie, Tunisia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6141-8222","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mehrez","family":"Zribi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CESBIO (CNRS\/UPS\/IRD\/CNES), 18 av. Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9461-4120","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicolas","family":"Baghdadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IRSTEA, UMR TETIS, 500 rue Fran\u00e7ois Breton, 34093 Montpellier Cedex 5, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3415-8095","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bernard","family":"Mougenot","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CESBIO (CNRS\/UPS\/IRD\/CNES), 18 av. Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zohra","family":"Chabaane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Carthage\/INAT, 43 av. Charles Nicolle 1082, Tunis, Mahraj\u00e8ne Tunisie, Tunisia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,1,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Ulaby, F.T., Moore, R.K., and Fung, A.K. (1986). 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